Saturday will be a big day in the Minnesota Wild’s quest for a division title as they look to hold off the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars while battling the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Wild enter Saturday’s action with a one-point lead over Dallas for first place in the Central Division with the Stars leaping the Avalanche after Friday’s win over the Arizona Coyotes.
While the Stars will be back in action for a crucial battle with Colorado in Denver tonight, the Wild will also have its hands full with the Golden Knights, who are in first place in the Pacific Division.
According to MoneyPuck’s playoff odds, the WIld have the second-best odds of winning the Central Division at 35.3 percent. The Stars have the best odds at 39.6 percent but the Avalanche own a 25.1 percent to win the Central.
Those odds could flip dramatically depending on who wins in Denver and they could get even tighter if the Wild can’t beat the Golden Knights in Vegas.
The Wild have a gauntlet down the stretch as they’ll come home for a rematch with the Golden Knights on Monday night. Minnesota will battle another team vying for playoff position when they travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday before finishing the regular season with matchups against the St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators.
Winning the division would increase the Wild’s likelihood of making a playoff run this season as they would battle one of the Wild Card teams as opposed to the Avalanche or Stars in the first round of the playoffs.
If the season ended today, Minnesota would face the Seattle Kraken in the first round of the playoffs, who the Wild trounced in a 5-1 victory last Monday night. A win over the Golden Knights would also put the Wild in first place in the Western Conference thanks to their tiebreaker in regulation wins.
If the Wild finish atop the Western Conference, it would mean a matchup with the second Wild Card team between the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames or Nashville Predators.
Before the Wild can think about that, they’ll have to finish strong down the stretch and put themselves in a position to earn their first playoff series win since 2015.
