Wild Have Opportunity For Another Win Streak

The Minnesota Wild might have had their seven-game win streak ended in a disheartening loss to the Colorado Avalanche, but there is a chance for them to pick up right where they left off.

Facing the Avalanche on any night is difficult but it was even more of a hill to climb when the divisional rivals saw that Minnesota was beginning to build a whole lot of hype after acquiring the only player that can rival Cale Makar as the best defenseman on the planet -- so they had to put a stop to that quickly. But, we'll just wait for this team to actually get some players back to really see it as a test of strength.

Fortunately, the Wild's upcoming schedule has some potential to be another win streak. Minnesota is hosting the lowly Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, travelling up to Winnipeg after the Christmas break, and then down to play the faltering Vegas Golden Knights shortly after. And then, well, it's a California road trip followed by a trip to Seattle before heading home. That takes us all the way into the middle of January and while some teams are more difficult outs than others, there is certainly a path to forming another win streak -- or at least taking the vast majority of those games.

We don't need to hang our head for too long because the Wild weren't able to continue dominance against one of the most dominant teams we have seen in the NHL's modern era.

That's Wild

• In that loss to Colorado, the Wild certainly found out that the Avalanche are the team to beat -- the hill they'll have to climb if they even think about going on a lengthy playoff run. [StarTribune]
• Judd Brackett spoke with The Athletic to give some details on the Quinn Hughes trade. [The Athletic]
• If we can take anything from one single loss, the loss to the Avalanche highlighted a bit of the risk that comes with making the trade for Hughes. [Hockey Wilderness]

Off the trail...

• The Toronto Maple Leafs' power play with Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and William Nylander, is somehow the worst in the entire NHL. So, they fired the guy in charge of it. [TheScore]
• And with that news: Is Craig Berube finding himself on the hot seat in Toronto? Could there be a wave of firings up there? [ESPN]
• Darren Raddysh is continuing his late-career bloom into some offensive powerhouse from the blue line for the Tampa Bay Lightning. In their latest win over the St. Louis Blues, the 29-year-old earned three points to make it 27 in 30 games this season. [NHL.com]