LOS ANGELES — There has been precious little sunshine in normally sunny Southern California as the Minnesota Wild visit. The schedule-makers gave them three games here in four days as part of their season-long seven-game road trip. Those in search of natural Vitamin D have instead been greeted by clouds and rain that have blanketing the Los Angeles basin as the Golden State experiences its annual rainy season.
But there’s no snow. The temperatures are well above freezing. And the Wild have grabbed at least a point in each of the first five games away from Minnesota on this journey so far, going 3-0-2.
“It feels good, especially with my family here,” Wild forward Yakov Trenin said, after his parents traveled from Russia to see him play this week. “It feels like home.”
Following Saturday night’s shootout loss to the Kings in downtown Los Angeles, the Wild are 11-6-3 away from St. Paul this season, and as they continue to accumulate points, have now moved into the drivers’ seat for a second-place finish in the Central Division behind the powerful Avalanche but ahead of the Stars. While we are only barely into the second half of the season, and the playoffs are still more than three months away, a finish ahead of third place Dallas means that the postseason would begin with two games at Grand Casino Arena.
Reinforcing ways to win and collect vital points during two consecutive weeks away from the comforts of home will no doubt be a valuable attribute when the elimination games begin.
“We knew this was going to be a big part of our season where you could say it’s a long road trip, and you play seven games in 14 days,” Wild coach John Hynes said on Saturday, after his team came from behind four times to grab a point. “So, I like the fact that we got off to a good start (on the) road trip. We continue to do it.”
Wild defenseman Brock Faber said the Los Angeles portion of the trip is a bit of a flashback to his days as a Gopher. College hockey teams almost always play two-game weekend series versus the same team, and with visits to the Kings on Saturday and again on Monday, it’s a chance to learn from the first game and do things better in the second game.
“It’ll be good. I’m sure they’ve got areas they want to be better in and we’ve got areas we want to be better in,” Faber said, after scoring his ninth goal of the season on Saturday. “It’ll be fun playing this team back to back. It’s one where we want to leave this part of California with another two points.”
Holed up out of the rain in an oceanfront luxury hotel just down the street from the famed Santa Monica Pier, the Wild plan was to take Sunday to rest, then get a morning skate in Los Angeles on Monday before the rematch with the Kings on Monday night.
“We just played this team, we didn’t find a way to get two points. And we got another opportunity against the same team, which you don’t get a lot of times in the regular season,” Hynes said on Saturday night. “So we’ll take a day to rest up (Sunday) and refocus and see if we can get the two points the next time we play them.”
Simple math when one looks at the standings shows that banking those points now is sure to be helpful in April and May.
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