from Michael Russo of Russo's Rants,

... the Wild’s next three games are against the three teams that are all tied for the most points (91) in the Western Conference – vs. Anaheim, at St. Louis, at Nashville.

“It’s fun to play games this time of year when everything’s on the line,” Yeo said. “…Right now, this is where you make your money. … You have to find a way to play your best hockey, to go into tough buildings to win hockey games and pick up points and that’s what we’re facing.”

As the standings sit right now, St. Louis is first in the conference, Anaheim is second and Nashville is second in the Central. As the standings sit right now, if the season ended right this moment, the Wild would face the Ducks in the first round.

Parise said it’s too early to really start thinking like that, that the last 15 games is all about improving the team’s game, but “in the back of our mind, everyone knows the standings.”

“It’ll be a tough stretch of games. It’ll be good to see where we are at,” Parise said. “We’ve played some teams that aren’t in the playoffs lately, so it’ll be good to see where we are at compared to these guys (Anaheim) who have had a pretty good hold on their division lead for awhile now.”

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