Wild’s secret to success might have less to do with travel and more to do with good conversation

MONTREAL — The transformation was drastic but not the least bit surprising.

As soon as the Wild left the 55102 ZIP code and skated on someone else’s ice, they were back to being themselves after a pair of uncharacteristic and uninspiring losses at Xcel Energy Center.

“Maybe start playing in white at home,” center Joel Eriksson Ek said, referencing the team’s away jerseys in which the Wild are an NHL-best 20-5-3; that’s the fourth-fewest games in NHL history to get to 20 victories.

But a change in attire and address might not be the only explanations for the Wild’s bounce-back.

They’ve won the first three of five in a row on the road after discussing what needed to be fixed in a team meeting before the start of this streak, which continued with a storybook 4-0 shutout at Montreal Thursday in goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s final homecoming.

“We’re just rolling right now,” alternate captain Marcus Foligno said, “and it’s fun to see.”

This wasn’t the first heart-to-heart the Wild have had in recent days.

“Don’t need to make anything fancy or cute,” Fleury said. “Just play hard hockey.”

But that didn’t happen: They were dumped 5-4 by the Flames, and coach John Hynes mentioned how he would have liked to see more “pushback” from the Wild after Fleury was punched by Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson, who had a staredown for a celebration when he scored soon after the dust-up in the Wild crease.

“That situation with Fleury was indicative of the overall mindset,” said Hynes, who brought up the Wild’s “hardness and competitiveness.”

Cue another get-together.

“A few things were said,” goalie Filip Gustavsson said. “We had a little bit of a meeting, and we had a meeting before the Calgary game, and we said some things. We just did a completely different thing, and we got called out for it.

Their response began with a 4-2 victory against the Blackhawks last Sunday, but that was only their opening remarks.

The Wild’s most convincing arguments that they’d rediscovered their rhythm came vs. the Maple Leafs and Canadiens. They stymied a skilled Toronto lineup Wednesday in another solid start from Gustavsson, who also played in Chicago and has shed a five-game funk by stopping 50 of 53 shots in those back-to-back wins.

“You know when it’s a bad goal and when it’s just NHL players doing NHL things,” said Gustavsson, whose .914 save percentage is still in the top 10 in the league. “Sometimes bounces are not with you, and sometimes you make that extra save and that gives you confidence for the team to keep pushing and maybe find the equalizer or the go-ahead goal. So, that’s what we didn’t have, and some games ran away from us.”

Then, to really hammer home their point, the Wild locked their zone and threw away the key, with Fleury’s 19 saves blanking Montreal for a most fitting farewell in front of his family and friends in his home province.

“Nothing mattered honestly in this game other than the win,” center Frederick Gaudreau said. “That’s all we wanted. Guys were willing to block any shots they had to block to keep the puck as far as possible from the net. That’s all that mattered.”

After fourth-liner Marat Khusnutdinov got things rolling against the Maple Leafs, rookie Liam Ohgren took the handoff vs. the Canadiens before callup-turned-mainstay Devin Shore buried his first with the team. Veteran Yakov Trenin had two assists after getting benched Sunday, while Foligno, Gaudreau and captain Jared Spurgeon each extended their point streaks to four games — a stretch in which they’ve combined to score eight times. Spurgeon’s 401 career points are now third all-time in franchise history.

“When we went through our dry spell, we weren’t really getting secondary scoring, and that’s on us,” Foligno said. “That’s on guys like me and Trenny. [Jakub] Lauko comes back, and he’s really a game or two from his injury. I think he’s playing unbelievable the past two games. He adds another dimension to our game. Khusnutdinov is flying right now. He adds now the puck protection.

“Guys are gaining confidence.”

The proof is in the results, and not only has this reset the Wild, but it’s given them a blueprint for how to succeed while leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov is out for surgery on his lower-body injury.

“We’ve gotten really strong performances throughout the lineup,” Hynes said. “We’ve been a four-line team. Six defensemen have played really well. I think both goaltenders have played excellent.

Whether it holds up at home is TBD, but Eriksson Ek might be on to something with his suggestion.

“We did the whiteout one time, and it worked,” Foligno said, referring to the overtime win over Nashville on Nov. 30. “So I think we should try it again.”

6 p.m. Saturday, Canadian Tire Centre

TV; radio: FanDuel Sports Network North; 100.3-FM

Senators update: Like the Wild, the Senators have won three in a row. They’re coming off a 5-4 overtime victory against second-place Washington on Thursday, which improved them to 15-7-2 at home. Ottawa has a balanced offense, with seven players in double digits for goals. Leading the way is LW Brady Tkachuk’s 19. Tkachuk had an assist in the Senators’ 3-1 rally over the Wild on Dec. 29.