Move over every team in the NHL, there’s a new No. 1 on the board.
In Pierre LeBrun’s latest NHL Power Rankings for ESPN, the Minnesota Wild are the No. 1 team in the league; up four spots from last week.
LeBrun writes:
“The Wild are 26-6-2 since their turnaround in mid-January, including five straight wins of late. Balanced scoring, air-tight defense and, of course, the steady netminding of Doobie, Doobie, Do!”
The “Doobie, Doobie, Do!” LeBrun is referring to is goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who on Monday was name the NHL’s First Star of the Week after leading the Wild to four straight wins last week, including a team record 10th consecutive road victory.
Consider this fact from CBS Sports about how dominating the Wild have been since trading for Dubnyk:
“He has started every game since the trade and been one of the driving forces behind their 26-6-2 run that has seen them go from 12th place in the Western Conference (ahead of only the Coyotes and Oilers) and eight points out of a playoff spot on Jan. 12 to what will almost certainly be a playoff spot. Almost every time a team is as far behind in the playoff race as the Wild were in January they end up falling short of the postseason. Comebacks like this simply do not happen, and when they do, we need to marvel at just how impressive they are.”
With six games remaining in the regular season the Wild are in control of the top Wild Card seed in the Western Conference. At 95 points, Minnesota trails Chicago by three points and St. Louis by four points in the Central Division race. Here’s a look at the remaining schedule for all three teams.
Wild:
- vs. New York Rangers
- vs. Detroit Red Wings
- vs. Winnipeg Jets
- @ Chicago Blackhawks
- @ Nashville Predators
- @ St. Louis Blues
Blackhawks:
- vs. Vancouver Canucks
- @ Buffalo Sabres
- vs. St. Louis Blues
- vs. Minnesota Wild
- @ St. Louis Blues
- @ Colorado Avalanche
Blues:
- vs. Calgary Flames
- @ Dallas Stars
- @ Chicago Blackhawks
- vs. Winnipeg Jets
- vs. Chicago Blackhawks
- vs. Minnesota Wild
