Minnesota is in the midst of a stretch of five games out of six on home ice after playing five-straight road contests. The Wild has won each of the first two games, defeating Edmonton 3-2 in a shootout on Friday before closing out Central Division-rival St. Louis 3-1 the last time out on Sunday.
The Wild has won its past four games overall, but the victory on Sunday was perhaps the most impressive of the bunch.
"I thought that was our best third period of the year," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said on Sunday. "We had a one-goal lead and I thought we didn't give them anything. That is the way we play when we're playing really good. That's a positive thing. I hope they're starting to believe they're a good team."
Even when Minnesota hasn't been winning, it has been getting points. The Wild has at least one point in nine of its past 10 games and has climbed to within two points of the Blues for second place in the Central Division.
"It's awesome. That's important to just get that feeling, get that good feeling going," said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk. "When you can approach every game and feel good about what the outcome's going to be and how we're going to play, that's how you get on these streaks. These streaks are important when the schedule gets tough at the end of the year."
Florida will be starting a three-in-four-nights stretch of games on the road against Central opponents. After playing in Minnesota, the Panthers will head to Winnipeg for a game against the Jets on Thursday before concluding the trip Friday in Colorado versus the Avalanche.
The Panthers are 1-0-1 against the Central this season, defeating the Avalanche in October and dropping a 2-1 game to Chicago late last month.
Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr, who has six goals and nine assists this season at the age of 44, is just four points shy of Hall of Famer Mark Messier for second on the NHL's all-time points list (1,887).
Jagr has been playing well of late, scoring five goals and adding four assists in his past 12 games.
