After an exhausting stretch, which saw the Minnesota Wild play nine games in the final 15 days before the All-Star break, most Wild players found plenty of time to kick up their feet and get some much needed rest during the three-day weekend.
It's a rare stretch of down time for Minnesota, which still must play 20 games in 35 nights left to wrap up the regular season.
For Tyler Graovac, who has been up and down between Minnesota and Iowa over the first half, the break allowed him a good opportunity to relax and reflect.
After he was recalled from Iowa in late October, Graovac didn't bring a bunch of stuff with him from Des Moines to St. Paul. After a while, not having all his clothing, including suits, became a bigger problem.
That meant an occasional trip to Iowa just to pick up things every so often, including his vehicle. With his family busy during the weekend, it gave him a good excuse to stay in the Twin Cities for a few days and have some time to himself.
"Did a little bit of laundry and mellowed out," Graovac said. "It was almost non-stop since the first day of training camp up to this break. Even involving Christmas, it was almost busier than the normal schedule just with seeing family and friends and traveling."
With the break now over, it's time for the Wild to get back to business. With 34 games remaining in the regular season, Minnesota will begin its post All-Star stretch with a four-game, nine-day trip north of the border, one that has the potential to set the tone for the stretch run.
"We want to get off to a good start post All-Star break," said Wild forward Zach Parise. "We're playing a really good team out of the break. But, and we talked about this yesterday, we've done a really good job of breaking it down by the week [to] be over .500 on the weeks and win the weeks. I don't think our mentality on that is going to change and it starts with this game."
