As Wild's play goes up and down, so does Koivu's demeanor

Mikko Koivu doesn't just love to win. He hates to lose.

Stephane Veilleux learned this the hard way six years ago when he visited the Wild captain in Turku, Finland.

"I beat him in badminton, and he didn't talk to me the entire ride back to his house. Here I am, a visitor for like seven days, and he wouldn't talk to me. It was awkward," Veilleux said, laughing. "It's a good thing it was only a 15-minute ride."

Koivu is, as coach Mike Yeo calls him, a "fierce competitor." He's also a miserable loser, and when the Wild's losing, he wears it on his face. That was especially the case in December and first half of January, which included a stretch of 12 losses in 14 games (2-8-4).

"It's his game face, you know?" Veilleux said. "If you get to know him personally, if things are not going right or you're on a losing streak, you'll know. His mood is different."

Same thing when the Wild's winning, like now, with Minnesota having a chance to match its team-record 10-game point streak Saturday night against the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference, the Carolina Hurricanes.

These days, walk in the Wild locker room, and the intense, steely-eyed captain is smiling. He's chipper, shoots the breeze with anyone and walks around like he's proud of how his team is playing.

Besides being 7-0-2 in the past nine games, the Wild is 9-1-2 in the past 12.

Not only does it coincide with Devan Dubnyk's Jan. 14 arrival, it coincides with Koivu playing his best hockey of the season and comes, maybe not so coincidentally, after leaders like Koivu, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and now-sidelined Matt Cooke closed the door of the visiting locker room for nearly a half-hour meeting after a 7-2 loss at Pittsburgh on Jan. 13.

After those doors opened, a frustrated Koivu talked over and over again about trust. "It's a lot of things that have to change," he said. "The way we play, the way we do things on a daily basis. It's everything. Every single detail. Everything. It has to be better. With this effort and the kind of game we've been playing lately, it's embarrassing and every single guy should feel that."

Koivu said the Wild had to get back to its bread and butter — defense. During that 2-8-4 streak, the Wild allowed 58 goals (4.1 per game). In the 12 games since, the Wild has allowed a league-low 17 (1.4 per game).

Large credit goes to Dubnyk. But this is Koivu's 10th season with the Wild. The 2001 first-round pick is the team's all-time leading scorer with 485 points in 655 games. And as all Wild fans should know by now, he will never, ever, ever sacrifice defense for offense. He believes good defense is how you win in the NHL and feels vindicated that the Wild is yet again proving it.

"We are playing the right way again," Koivu said.

He's confident about the team's game again and his own. After being so snakebit early in the season (two goals and one assist in his first 15 games), Koivu has 11 points in the past 12 games. He's been solid defensively, tough to handle offensively and, of course, winning faceoffs. He is tied for 11th in the NHL with a .555 winning percentage, taking the third-most draws (1,233) and winning the fourth-most (684).

"You see when he makes a power move, that's a different Mikko right there," said Veilleux, selected by the Wild in the same 2001 draft and the captain's longtime friend and former five-year road roommate. "He wins a battle in the corner, then his offensive game feeds off that. When he starts winning his battles and makes a play, curls, a power move to the net, that's when you know Mikko's feeling good."

Koivu always will be intense. He says the one thing that keeps him happy is his 17-month-old daughter, Sofie. But don't mistake that for a softer, kinder, gentler Koivu.

"Just ask my wife," he joked.

But Veilleux says Koivu "takes his responsibility as captain very seriously." Added Yeo, "When we were going through a tough time, he was the guy that really took that on his own shoulders. He's such a proud guy. Winning is so important to him."

So like it or not, Koivu's mood always will reflect how the team is playing.

"I try to be the same [demeanor] if we win or lose, but when things are not going the way you want and you want so badly to make it happen, it's hard," Koivu said. "You want to make sure it's unacceptable to lose here and want keep that culture here.

"I've been through ups and downs here lots with the team and try to handle them differently with your experience. But whatever I do, I always do what I believe. It's right. And I'm not going to get away from that as long as I play."