Minnesota Wild make final playoff push

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – As the rollercoaster season for the Minnesota Wild winds down, the Wild are still mathematically alive in the playoff race, but looking at the upcoming schedule, and the teams that are in front of them, even the most die hard fan has to be skeptical of their chances to make the post season.
As of this article, the Wild were four points out of the final playoff spot, and sit in 11^th place in the Western Conference. The final four games of the season come against Vancouver, Calgary, Detroit, Dallas, Nashville, and Columbus. They have a combined record of 5 wins and 17 losses against those teams this season. They have not defeated Calgary or Dallas all this season. Each of the teams left on the their schedule, except for Dallas, are already in a playoff position. Only Detroit has clinched a playoff spot.
The most points the Wild can have at the end of the season if they were to win their remaining games would 92. The only teams the Wild have a realistic chance to catch are Nashville and Saint Louis, with an outside chance of catching Columbus.
Nashville and Saint Louis sit in the seventh and eighth spots, respectively. Nashville is playing well, and have gone 5-1-4 in their past ten games. St. Louis is on fire and are 7-2-1 in their past ten games, and are on a five game winning streak.
To even catch those two squads, the Wild would need to leap frog Edmonton (81 points, 4-4-2 in the past ten) and Anaheim (82 points, 7-3-0 in the past ten). The Wild played the Oilers in Edmonton on Sunday night and came away with a much needed victory over the team immediately ahead of them in the standings.
Kevin Gorg, color commentator for Fox Sports North, asked Coach Jacques Lemaire if he was aware the Wild needed to likely win five of the next six games to make the playoffs. Lemaire responded with a shaking of the head and a smile, saying, “No, no. Just the next one.”   Meaning of course they need to simply take it one game and one opponent at a time.
The next one comes against Vancouver, a team the Wild has beaten just once in five meetings this season.
INJURIES CONTINUE FOR WILD
Injured center Mikko Koivu returned to the lineup last night, having missed the previous two games due to a knee injury suffered in the same game that saw Marian Gaborik come back for the first time since December 23^rd. However, defenseman Brent Burns continues to miss games with “concussion-like symptoms,” and now winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard has missed the past two games with a concussion.
WILD SIGN CODY ALMOND
According to a press release, the Wild have signed forward Cody Almond to an entry level contract. Almond was the Wild’s fifth round pick in the 2007 entry draft, and has spent the past four seasons with Kelowna of the WHL.
According to the release, “the 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Calgary, Alberta registered 105 penalty minutes (PIM), was tied for second on the team in goals, third in scoring and added five power play goals, three game-winning tallies and two shorthanded markers.”
The author can be reached at bryan.reynolds@prohockeynews.com