"That's the whole NHL," Suter said. "Teams go through winning streaks and they come out of those and usually go on a little bit of a losing streak. Calgary did it after they played us ... but the good teams get out of it and get out of quicker than other teams."
That's what makes this weekend's back-to-back set against the New York teams so crucial.
With its losing skid at three and three points separating the Wild from the Arizona Coyotes, currently in the second wild card position in the Western Conference, Minnesota has little room for error.
In its latest loss, a 4-1 setback to the Dallas Stars on Thursday, the Wild was less concerned with sub-par execution of the Xs and Os on the ice and more perturbed with the lack of urgency in its game.
Minnesota began the night Thursday with a chance to climb within one point of the Stars for the top wild card spot and to within three points of the St. Louis Blues for third in the Central Division.
Instead, it dropped five points behind each and watched Arizona stretch its lead in the wild card standings by securing a late-night win over the Anaheim Ducks.
"They know how to play; we've been doing this for what, almost 160 days? Since September and training camp?" said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "I don't think I've varied too much in the system stuff, they should have that down right perfect. It's the will and the want; the will to win battles and the want to win more than the other team."
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That lack of "will and want" led Boudreau to meet individually with most of the players on his roster at one point or another on Friday. He wouldn't share specifics of what his message was, but it's safe to say that one of the suggestions was for his group to come to the rink on Saturday better prepared to compete.
"I can't make someone work," Boudreau said. "That comes from within. I can pressure them, and if this was January, that's a different story. I could sit them, but we don't have that option right now. It's up to them. They saw how bad Dallas wanted it Thursday] and if they'd have watched the [Arizona] game, they'd see how hard they want it. These teams want it right now, and we need to find what we had in Tampa."
Despite its recent struggles, the Wild remains within striking distance of a seventh consecutive trip to the postseason. Eleven games remain with just three points to make up, and the Wild still has head-to-head matchups with Arizona and Colorado looming in the next couple weeks.
So while the game against the Rangers on Saturday is the biggest of the year for the Wild, it's a title that probably won't stick for long. The Islanders are here Sunday before the Avalanche come to town on Tuesday.
"We've got some games against really tough teams coming up, and I think it's going to be a good test for us," said Wild forward Jason Zucker. "I think we've proven that we can play well against those teams. But at this point, we've done enough talking. There's nothing anyone else is going to say that's going to change anything for us, we have to actually go out there and play and win games."
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