Wild continue slide as playoff race heats up
The Minnesota Wild need to beat teams like the Calgary Flames. And they are having a hard time doing that right now.
By
Adam Gretz
•
1 min read
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Of the four teams (Minnesota, Detroit, Columbus, Dallas) competing for the remaining two playoff spots in the Western Conference the Minnesota Wild seemed to have one of the easiest remaining schedules.
Games against Calgary, Edmonton, and Colorado (with one tougher game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings mixed in) seemed like it should have been enough to help Minnesota secure a playoff spot, especially given the cushion the team built for itself with a seven-game winning streak last month.
But I guess that's why they play the games.
The Wild dropped Sunday's game, at home, to the Flames by a 4-1 margin and remain in danger of suffering a second straight late-season collapse that could keep them out of the playoffs. They haven't fallen out of the top eight yet, but they're not making it easy on themselves.
It was Minnesota's ninth loss in its past 13 games, and its fifth in a row at home.
It's a bad time of year to hit a slump like that, especially as Columbus, Detroit, and Dallas continue to hang around in the race, lurking just behind the Wild in the standings.
They probably deserved a better fate on Sunday, especially given the way they played in the first period, but nothing is finding the back of the net for the Wild right now. They have scored two goals or fewer in eight of the past 13.
It was just a little less than a month ago that Minnesota was in fourth place in the conference, just two points back of Vancouver for the top spot in the Northwest Division. Now they're desperately trying to cling on to a playoff spot heading into the final week of the season with no hope of catching Vancouver.
As I wrote a week ago they're still in the driver's seat for a playoff spot, but they can't be losing games like this against teams that are out of the playoff picture and at the bottom of the conference standings. These are the games that should be used to wrap up that spot. Instead, they're just putting even more pressure on themselves as the season hits its stretch run next week.
