From the Rink: Wild hopes to turn tide against surging Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. --Only in the NHL it seems can you finish off a season sweep of a division-leading club, then 24 hours later, hope to fend off being swept by a last-place outfit.
That's what the Wild are up against on Saturday when it plays the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena.
Coming off a 4-2 victory in its first-ever trip to Vegas on Friday, a win that improved the Wild to 3-0 against the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, Minnesota now shifts its focus to the Coyotes -- currently last in the Pacific -- who have won each of the first two games against the Wild this season, including a 5-3 defeat in this same building just 16 days ago.

"They've played really well," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "The first game, we had a 3-nothing lead on them and all of the sudden, when the emotion starts going, we couldn't stop it. It was like a runaway train. Last game I thought, for two periods, we played almost perfect hockey, and a few mistakes in the third period ended up costing us. Those are three big points that we've lost against this team."

Simply looking at the current standings is not an accurate assessment of how well Arizona has been playing lately, however.
A brutal start to the season -- one win in the entire month of October -- doomed the Coyotes season before it had really begun. Arizona had just five wins at Thanksgiving and went eight weeks before it was able to string together consecutive victories.
But that hasn't been the case since the calendar flipped to 2018.
Arizona is 15-9-5 since Jan. 1, including a 5-2-1 stretch so far in March. Victories over Nashville and St. Louis, as well as two wins against both San Jose and Minnesota -- all teams battling for postseason position in the West -- have highlighted the schedule. The Coyotes have gone 1-1-1 against the NHL-leading Predators, losing once in a shootout and by in regulation by one goal on Thursday night.
"They're a fast-skating team, they're quick and I think they're hungry at this point in the season," said Wild forward Matt Cullen. "When the first part of your year hasn't gone well, you want to finish on a strong note. They're playing really well."
The game is also an important one for the Wild in the standings.
Minnesota begins the day three points clear of both Colorado and Dallas, currently the two wild card teams in the Western Conference.
Anaheim, the first team out of the playoffs, is also three back of the Wild.
None of those teams play on Saturday, so a victory would allow Minnesota to gain additional real estate.
The Wild returns home for a game against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, but then has four days off after, a rarity in March. During that time, other teams will be gaining ground and adding points, so the Wild knows how important it is to put those points in the bank while it can.
"We've got two games in the next seven days, and a lot of teams are going to be playing in between then," Boudreau said. "You can be excited about a good win in Vegas, but at the same time, you've gotta be able to string points together if you want to solidify your spot in the playoffs."
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Nino Niederreiter
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Tyler Ennis - Matt Cullen - Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Daniel Winnik
Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Gustav Olofsson - Jonas Brodin
Nick Seeler - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
COYOTES
Clayton Keller - Derek Stepan - Richard Panik
Max Domi - Christian Dvorak - Brendan Perlini
Josh Archibald - Freddie Hamilton - Christian Fischer
Jordan Martinook - Brad Richardson - Nick Cousins
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun - Alex Goligoski
Kevin Connauton - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Antti Raanta
Darcy Kuemper
Related:
- Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Arizona - Zucker finishes storybook first trip to hometown - Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 4, Golden Knights 2