The Minnesota Wild begin a critical week Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center as they look to clinch their first trip to the postseason in five years.
Minnesota topped Calgary with a 4-3 victory on the road last Monday, but the Associated Press notes the Wild will need to beat the Flames again Sunday to snap a season-worst four-game home losing streak. The puck drops at 5 p.m.
Zach Parise, who leads the Wild in goals with 16 and points with 35, told Fox Sports North, “You always want to be playing your best hockey going into the playoffs and I think now it’s a good challenge for us to make sure that we are playing well going into the postseason and we have to play well now to get into the postseason, so it’s kind of in our hands.”
With only four games left in the regular season, the Wild (24-17-3) are only two points ahead of Columbus and three in front of ninth-place Detroit.
The Minnesota club fell to seventh in the Western Conference on Thursday after a rough 6-1 loss to San Jose.
The Wild also face the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers in St. Paul this week before wrapping up the regular season against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
