Wild gains crucial point ahead of four-day break

ST. PAUL -- With a four-day hole in the schedule on the horizon, the Wild captured one point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.
That fact alone assures itself that the Wild won't be passed by other teams in the standings while it takes an unusual extended March break.
During its recent three-game span against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Arizona Coyotes and the Los Angeles Kings -- a stretch that occurred over four days -- Minnesota captured five out of a possible six points.

But it's the one point it didn't nab on Monday that left Wild players sour.
Despite a furious rally that saw it score three unanswered goals to dig out of a two-goal deficit in the second period, and despite the one point it gained on Central Division rivals Colorado, Dallas and St. Louis in the standings, the final minute of regulation and the nearly 4 1/2 minutes of overtime will give Minnesota something to think about over the next 96 hours.

"If this was Thursday and you said we were going to get five out of six we'd be happy," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "But when you have the opportunity to get six out of six and pretty well put a team behind you, you're not quite as thrilled."
The Wild was just 47 seconds away from getting two points while all but burying the Kings behind it in the Western Conference standings.
But like battle-tested playoff contenders do -- and desperate ones at that -- Los Angeles pulled goaltender Jonathan Quick with over a minute remaining, then tied the score with 46.5 showing on the clock.
In overtime, Jeff Carter scored his second goal of the game with 33.8 seconds left to steal the second point.
Ask a Wild player midway through the game when it trailed by two if it would be happy with one point, they'd probably take it. But this felt different.
"It's always gonna feel like a waste when you have a lead with under a minute left," said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk. "But you look at the whole game, it was a good game, it was a hard-fought, playoff-like game. We made a real nice play to go up. Overtime is overtime. It's going to go one way or the other, so obviously it feels like we threw a point away, but it was a pretty hard-fought game."
Eventually the bitterness will recede and the Wild will be left trying to manage a hectic final push to the end of the regular season. After a four-day respite, Minnesota will play its final nine games in the span of 15 days. Eight of those contests will come against teams either in the playoffs or will be battling for their playoff lives.
In a razor thin Western Conference, that includes the Wild, who sit four points clear of the Avalanche for third place in the Central, six points better than the Stars, the first team outside the playoff picture, and the hard-charging Blues, now seven points behind Minnesota.
Anaheim and Los Angeles are also in the mix, with the Kings moving into third place in the Pacific Division on Monday. They're tied with Anaheim, currently the second wild card in the West, with 86 points, but have five more wins in regulation or overtime.

"It's going to be a push, for sure. I think we've got to take advantage of these four days here. Get your mind right and get your body right to have a strong push in the last nine," said Wild forward Eric Staal. "We're going to need everybody. It starts with a big one on Saturday. We'll be ready to go."
And while the disappointment of losing one point on Monday lingers in the short term, it's quite possible when its all said and done, the one point gained makes a big difference.
"It's nice to have one point. It doesn't feel good now because where we were at with a minute left," Staal said. "But big picture, five of six over the weekend and today, so we'll take the rest and look forward to big game next weekend."
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