From the Rink: Wild in search of oft-elusive breathing room

ST. PAUL -- It took the Wild five months to climb into third place in the Central Division standings. Now that it's there, it's going to try and stay for awhile.
Minnesota, which moved one point ahead of the Dallas Stars for third with a win against the New York Rangers, was helped by the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, who won 5-3 in Dallas.
If the Wild defeats the San Jose Sharks on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center, it will actually have some breathing room in the standings.

"I check the standings every now and then, I like to know what's going on in the League," said Wild forward Charlie Coyle. "I think everyone takes a glimpse every now and then. But we can only control what we can control here and that's getting two points here tonight. We have no say in what other teams do on any other given night."

Especially this time of year, as playoff contenders become more clear and competition for spots heats up, guys become more aware of what is happening around the League.
The Sharks stand second in the Pacific Division, but Calgary, Anaheim and Los Angeles are all within three points right behind them. One loss and a couple of other wins would have the potential to slide San Jose from its cozy perch to out of a divisional spot and into direct competition with Central teams for a wild card position.
That includes Minnesota, which is why keeping its foot on the gas pedal is so important for the Wild, especially this week, as games against division contenders St. Louis and Colorado follow in the coming days.
"We were a ways back a couple of months ago and we've worked our way back in," said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk. "It certainly doesn't mean you can feel good or sit on it, there's a lot of games and a lot of points left available. We just need to keep pushing up and try to separate yourself as much as you can from the teams behind you."
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Nino Niederreiter
Tyler Ennis - Joel Eriksson Ek - Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno - Matt Cullen - Daniel Winnik
Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Nick Seeler - Jared Spurgeon
Mike Reilly - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
SHARKS
Timo Meier - Joe Pavelski - Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl - Logan Couture - Melker Karlsson
Mikkel Boedker - Chris Tierney - Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow - Eric Fehr - Jannik Hansen
Joakim Ryan - Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon - Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell