"Guys care a lot," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "They are a resilient group, but most of all, they're competitive and they care. When things don't go well, they're not happy and I think we work hard to fix those things."
One of those trying times came back in November, following a pair of blowout losses to St. Louis and Winnipeg. Minnesota returned home against the hottest team in the League at that time, the Vegas Golden Knights, and responded with a 4-2 win.
It followed that with a 2-1 victory over the Blues, who had won 6-3 just seven days prior.
Time and again, the Wild has answered tough games with good results, a care that has helped guide the club to a second consecutive 100-plus point season, one in which it never lost more than three consecutive games.
"That's what we've done all year, is when we've had a real kick in the teeth, we haven't let it snowball and roll into a three, a four, or a five-game losing streak," said Wild forward Eric Staal. "We respond the next game with a great effort, and this will be the most important game of the year for us."
Down 0-2 in the series is not a new position for Minnesota. The good news is, the Wild can draw on past experiences and what it can take to dig out from a two-game deficit, like it did in 2014 when it came back to beat the Colorado Avalanche in seven games.
Minnesota, which had one of the best home records in the NHL during the regular season, plays differently in St. Paul.
Winnipeg did what it was supposed to do at Bell MTS Place. Now it's up to the Wild to hold serve and extend the series by taking take of its own business.
"I feel like over and over, we're putting ourself in the same hole every year," said Wild forward Nino Niederreiter. "We know how important this game tomorrow night is going to be and everybody is excited for it and is up for the challenge."
Throughout the dressing room, players were not concerned about trying to even the series on home ice. Tuesday night's Game 4 is an afterthought at this point.
"We have to take it game-by-game," Niederreiter said. "Whatever happens after Game 3] is going to happen but everybody has a good focus for tomorrow night. Tomorrow has gotta be our A-game."
**Related:**
- [Dubnyk a bright spot for Wild in tough first two games
- Wild announces pre-game parties prior to Games 3 and 4
