The Wild is embarking on four straight home games, including against teams below it in the standings.
It faced a stretch like this in the past, playing four in a row last month against some of the NHL's bottom feeders. That run didn't go well, as the Wild went a disappointing 1-3, but it has a chance at a do-over starting Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center against the Flyers.
"We have to start beating these teams that are below us in the standings," winger Zach Parise said. "Those are just games that we gotta win."
After hosting the Flyers, who are two points shy of the Wild in the overall standings, the Wild will encounter the Devils – whom the team outlasted 4-2 over the weekend in New Jersey – before running into the Blues and Ducks.
St. Louis has the same amount of points as the Wild (59), but the Blues are one spot ahead of it since they has two games at hand. Anaheim, still sputtering amid seven straight losses, is eight points behind those two.
During the middle of January, the Wild had a similar opportunity against struggling teams by playing the Red Wings, Flyers, Kings and Ducks.
But after losing to Detroit on home ice, the team fell on the road in Philadelphia before eking out a shootout win over Los Angeles. It then was blanked 3-0 by Anaheim, a result that snapped the Ducks' franchise-record 12-game losing streak – a letdown that should be fresh in players' mind as they attempt to fare better this go-around.
"We're going to play teams that are behind us in the standings that we have to win those games, and we haven't been doing that," Parise said. "That's the reason we haven't made any type of climb."
