In sports like baseball and college hockey, playing multiple consecutive games versus the same opponent is common. In the NHL, it’s a decidedly unique set of circumstances.

Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes played college hockey at Boston University and was a college assistant coach at UMass Lowell and at Wisconsin for one season each, so he may get reacquainted with the whole “familiar foe” concept over the next few days.

With the Wild hosting the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, then visiting the Devils in Newark on Monday to begin a three-game road trip, Hynes was reflective on the pros and cons of seeing the same opponent twice in a row. Most notably, for a team with the expectation of making the playoffs, where you face the same opponent between four and seven games in a row, it could be good prep for next month.

“It’s a little bit like playoffs in the sense that you get prepared for the team, and then you play them and then you’re focusing on that game again going into the next game,” Hynes said. “So, sometimes the adjustments or teaching points are truly specific to the other team.”

Hynes, 50, got his first NHL head coaching job nearly a decade ago when the Devils hired him, and he spent parts of five seasons there. So, if the Wild need to play a back-to-back foe, at least it’s a familiar one for the coach. It’s also a well-known sweater for Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who began his NHL career in New Jersey and played nearly 400 games for the Devils over seven seasons, including winning a Stanley Cup there in 1995 when they posted a four-game sweep of the Detroit Red Wings to claim the franchise’s first NHL title.

“It’s a little unique, but I don’t mind it,” Hynes said.

Three more Gophers NHL-bound

In addition to hanging another Big Ten champion banner over the summer, the wall inside 3M Arena at Mariucci which honors Minnesota Gophers who have played in the NHL will need some notable updating. One day after Gophers leading scorer Jimmy Snuggerud signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis Blues to forgo his final season of college eligibility, another trio of prominent players traded in their maroon and gold sweaters for NHL duds, and the accompanying paycheck.

On Saturday morning, the Chicago Blackhawks announced their signing of forward Oliver Moore and defenseman Sam Rinzel to entry-level contracts.

Moore, who won a gold medal for Team USA at the 2025 World Juniors, was fourth on the Gophers’ stat sheet offensively this season as a sophomore, after Chicago picked him in the first round (19th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Rinzel, who Chicago grabbed 25th overall in 2022, was named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year as a sophomore after putting up 10 goals and 22 assists in 40 games for the Gophers. Both players practiced with the Blackhawks in Chicago on Saturday and are expected to make their respective NHL debuts on Sunday when the Utah Hockey Club visits the United Center.

A few hours after Chicago’s announcement, the Nashville Predators inked Gophers forward Matthew Wood to an entry-level pact of his own. Wood, who played his junior season at Minnesota after transferring from UConn, was a 2023 first round pick of the Predators and was second on the Gophers offensively last season with 17 goals and 22 assists in 39 games.

Nashville and Chicago have already been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race meaning that the season for Wood, Rinzel and Moore will end in mid April. Snuggerud may get a taste of playoff hockey with the Blues, who have made a furious charge late in the season under midseason replacement coach Jim Montgomery and are in a good position to grab a wild-card spot.

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There was a segment of games last month in which the Timberwolves played a largely entertaining brand of basketball with 5-out spacing and a bunch of guys who could attack off the dribble and play with immense pace.

It was Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and the young players such as Jaylen Clark, Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. at the forefront for a team that was fun to watch.

But didn’t win a lot of games.

This made any outside push for a youth movement a difficult sell. Not that players like Clark and Shannon Jr., specifically, didn’t prove they were ready to contribute to a winning team at the moment — they’ve earned minutes even since the team returned to full health — but a youth-centric direction wasn’t one Minnesota should turn to this season.

That wasn’t a viable option for a team that still views itself as a collection capable of making a deep postseason run.

And while some may scoff at the notion Minnesota could potentially play deep into May for a second consecutive season, there are nights — like on Friday, when the Wolves dismantled Phoenix yet again — when everything appears to still be on the table for the Timberwolves.

“When we play like that,” Wolves forward Julius Randle said, “we feel like we’re the best team in the league.”

“That” is playing with a defensive tenacity and an offense that executes repeatedly. It’s with a consistent effort and attention to detail. Frankly, Minnesota hasn’t shown an ability to deliver those traits on a game-to-game basis over the first 74 games of the season, which is why it’s in the fight of its life to nab a top-six seed in the West and avoid the play-in tournament.

The Wolves have suffered some inexcusable defeats this season, an old scab from previous seasons that they seemingly remedied a year ago. But inconsistency is a mark of a young, inexperienced team.

Luckily for the Wolves, they’ve got experienced players upon which they can rely — particularly of late.

Rudy Gobert was dominant in Friday’s win, finishing with 17 points and 13 rebounds. His interior rim deterrence made offense nearly impossible for Phoenix. The center set the tone, as he’s done so frequently in the past, and Minnesota needs him to do far more often moving forward.

“I mean, he’s got to play like the Defensive Player of the Year that he’s been,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He was huge around the rim, just setting the tone. As we get more aggressive on the ball, they may think twice about coming to the rim.”

But it wasn’t just on offense. Gobert also grabbed five offensive boards, which led to seven second-chance points on his own. Friday was an example of Gobert’s best basketball, and when he is delivering that …

“That’s when we’re all playing our best ball, to be honest. That’s when our team really functions the way it’s supposed to function,” Mike Conley said. “We just need him to continue to be aggressive. I think the fact that he was crashing the glass, trying to get second-chance points and making extra plays for us, extending possessions for us and, defensively, being that anchor that we count on.

“If we can continue to get him involved early, continue to get him playing with that sense of urgency, man, it’s who we want to be.”

The same is true of a floor general playing as consistently as Conley, who’s shooting a lights-out 50% from 3-point range since mid January and maintaining a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in that span.

“As important as his leadership is,” Finch said, “it’s his production and his play right now, which is at a super high level.”

The things Conley brings — taking care of the ball and orchestrating good shots for himself and others — and Gobert delivers — interior defense and rebounding — are highly repeatable, and contribute to consistent team success.

It’s why both Conley and Gobert rank in the top four among all NBA players with at least 20 games played and 25 minutes per game in net rating since Jan. 22. In that time, Minnesota is outscoring opponents by 14.8 points per 100 possessions with Gobert on the floor, and 12.7 when Conley is playing.

Minnesota’s record in those 31 games? 20-11.

The “old guys” are driving the bus on team success.

“I’ve got to set the tone for the team,” Gobert said. “It’s gotta be every night.”

If that continues, Minnesota may be the threat it hopes to be this postseason.

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Conley’s Corner: Health is confidence

ST. LOUIS — Joe Ryan’s first start since last August, Mickey Gasper’s first career hit and a nice leaping catch from Byron Buxton gave the Twins something to feel positive about on Saturday.

Aside from that? There wasn’t much.

The Twins went hitless in the middle innings of the game and Jorge Alcala gave up three runs without recording an out, helping send the Twins to a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Alcala, who entered after Ryan threw five solid innings of one-run ball, was hit on his shoulder by a comebacker to lead off the bottom of the sixth. The ball squirted past shortstop Carlos Correa and into the outfield for a double. He walked the next batter and gave up another hit, allowing the go-ahead run to score and spelling the end of his day.

Louie Varland entered, attempting to do damage control, and was close to doing just that — after walking the first batter he saw, he struck out the next two. But Lars Nootbaar, whose two-run home run on Thursday helped lift the Cardinals to a victory on Opening Day, instead rocked a 98.8 mile per hour fastball to center for a two-run single, breaking open the game.

That, coupled with an offense that disappeared for a bulk of the game on Saturday, sent the Twins to 0-2 on the season.

From Willi Castro’s double in the second inning, which drove in Trevor Larnach for the Twins’ only run of the day, to Gasper’s infield single to lead off the eighth, the Twins’ offense went hitless. Within that stretch, 13 straight hitters were sent down, as the Twins could do little off Cardinals starter Erick Fedde and reliever Ryan Fernandez.

Fedde went six innings in his start, allowing just two hits.

Ryan, who finished last season on the injured list after suffering a shoulder surgery in August, was very good, as well. After giving up a run in his first inning of work, the Twins starter settled in and threw four scoreless innings, striking out five, before making way for the bullpen.

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A small plane crashed Saturday afternoon in a residential area of Brooklyn Park.

The SOCATA TBM7 crashed about 12:20 p.m. after leaving Des Moines International Airport in Iowa. It was headed to Anoka County-Blaine Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The agency said it did not yet know how many people were on board the plane.

The crash happened near the intersection of 109th Avenue North and Noble Parkway, according to FOX9 News. The station reported that a house was on fire, but no one inside was injured, officials said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.

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