The Wild enter Wednesday’s important game at Arizona having won six of their last eight games. They are showing fight after their awful start, climbing to within five points of a playoff position with 30 games to go.
Can they get there? I don’t think so. Injuries, streaky defense and goaltending breakdowns seem like too much to overcome. They would need to pass three teams to claim a wild-card spot. I don’t see them getting off the bubble bus.
If they pull off this comeback and make the playoffs, their weaknesses will keep them from making a Stanley Cup run.
I still find the Wild interesting, though. These final 30 games are worth watching because of three youngsters: Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Brock Faber.
Proof of their intrigue was there for all to see on Monday when they fell behind early on a fluke goal but emerged a 5-3 winner over the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Boldy was focused, aggressive and in the middle of it all with two assists and a goal that was the eventual game-winner. Boldy has not always been focused, aggressive and in the middle of things, which the Wild has addressed with him. But he has five points in his last two games on 12 shots. Boldy, just 22, is in his third season with the Wild and is coming off a 31-goal campaign.
He’s still searching for consistency, a challenge for most young players. When he doesn’t fade in and out of games, he plays like he did on Monday. More of that, please.
It was a Boldy shot on which Rossi stabbed in the rebound to break a 2-2 tie. We all are trying to figure out what type of player Rossi is going to be. He certainly has had physical setbacks at the start of his professional career. And he realized he needed to put in more work during the offseason, which he spent working out in the Twin Cities. He has been rewarded with his first extended run of playing time with the Wild this season. He’s popping up on watch lists of candidates for the Calder Trophy but he’s not quite producing like a top-six forward should.
