Game #52: Minnesota Wild at Phoenix Coyotes, Saturday February 5, 2011 at 7:00pm CST, Jobing.com Arena [GAME PREVIEW]

I hate to even mention it, but I feel I must.  I have moments where I’m a bit superstitious, so the thought of even thinking about it makes me nervous.  The “it” is like even uttering the word “shutout” in the last five minutes of a game where your goaltender has up to that point kept the other team off the scoreboard.  I know I cringe when I hear the Wild’s TV broadcast duo of Dan Terhaar and Mike Greenlay say the word.  I generally want to throw something at the TV because almost without fail, it ultimately jinxes the team.

However, the “it” I’m talking about has nothing to with shutouts.  The “it” I’m talking about is the playoffs.  For the first time in what seems like forever, a playoff appearance is within grasp.  Thursday’s win in Denver took the Wild from tenth place to seventh place in the very tight Western Conference race to the playoffs.  I don’t care to dwell on it for too long, because with the way the Western teams are bottle-necked together, being in seventh place could be rather fleeting.  For example, after Tuesday’s win against the Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota was in possession of eighth place for all of about two hours.  The reason for the shortness of eighth place had something to do with tonight’s opponent.  Tuesday, the Coyotes played the San Jose Shark.  Not only did Phoenix lose, but they choked a 3-0 lead to lose 5-3.  Losses like that around the Western Conference hopefully serve to remind the Wild that they cannot depend on others for their own destiny.  If they wish to make it to the playoffs, they’re going to have to do it themselves.

What does Minnesota have to do in order to continue their surge?  Well first, they need to have more starts to games like they did Thursday night.  We all know (as does the rest of the league) that the Wild are not known for great offensive output.  Scoring two goals in a minute and one second went a long way to boosting the team’s confidence.  Secondly, Minnesota needs to find success at home that they’ve had on the road.  The month of February has the Wild playing eight of their fourteen games in St. Paul.  That alone could make or break their playoff chances.  They are well aware that the fans at home will be far from forgiving if they choke at home.  Finally, the Wild need to continue to play with the confidence that they have found in the last month or so.  Confidence can be a powerful catalyst for success.  However there is a very fine line between confidence and over-confidence.  It is my sincerest hope that they never cross over into the realm of over-confidence.  In order to prevent that from happening, they simply need to be kept humble and remember things like a winless pre-season as well as the ugly start to the regular season.

I’m now going back to my superstitious self.  I’m going to try and forget that I’ve even talked about “it”.  Well at least for a little while.

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