Wild faces no daunting climb as it hits the road for first time

The team learned late last season that it could win away from home when it had to. Early road success now is a major objective.

By Michael Russo, Star Tribune

Last update: October 12, 2007 - 10:13 PM

PEORIA, ARIZ. - The mothers of 17 Wild players each were handed a rose as they boarded the Wild's charter Friday bound for the Valley of the Sun.

Not only will the moms get to experience a three-game road trip with their sons, they'll also get to stay at a fancy Santa Monica hotel, shop on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and take a sightseeing tour of the homes of Hollywood stars.

But the Wild brought the moms along for some lady luck as well.

After the Wild was the worst road team in the NHL during last season's first half, the team put itself in the precarious position of having to be the NHL's best road team in the second half if it wanted any shot of making the playoffs.

It was almost laughable last season when player after player said it was imperative the team get back to .500 on the road while it was sitting with a 4-15-1 road record and in the middle of an 0-10-1 avalanche.

But in one of the most remarkable turnarounds imaginable, the Wild did just that, going 15-4-2 in its final 21 road games to finish 19-19-3.

"It was a funny year, just winning one out of 14 on the road at the start," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "There was nearly no way that we would make the playoffs -- nearly no chance. ... You don't think you have a chance when you see that your team can't win on the road.

"So what we want to do this year is start better than we did last year on the road. Start where we left it last year."

And that's essential; the Wild plays seven of its next eight away from St. Paul.

Last year's first-half slide was sudden and astonishing.

"When you start to lose on the road, you get down because it's all you do on the road," defenseman Kim Johnsson said. "You eat and sleep hockey, and when you keep on losing, and you talk about it, and have meetings about it, it just grows and grows and grows."

Coincidentally enough, it was a game at Phoenix on Nov. 14 -- just before the 11-game losing streak -- where General Manager Doug Risebrough "felt things were coming apart."

The Wild coughed up a two-goal second-period lead and one-goal third-period lead, "and we never do that. That started the demise. We put ourselves in a hole and to get ourselves out, we weren't just going to be able to win games at home.

"We had to be good on the road and under big-time pressure, because other teams in the same hunt were playing well on the road."

Ask any Wild player to pinpoint the turning point, and you'll get the same answer -- Jan. 11 at Vancouver. The Wild, after being shut out two nights earlier in Calgary for its 11th successive road loss, watched as a 3-0 stranglehold evaporated into a fragile 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

During the second intermission, veteran Wes Walz, sweaty and enraged, had a three-minute, profanity-laced tirade in which he finally screamed, "We are not losing this game!"

The Wild didn't, thanks to third-period goals by Marian Gaborik and, yes, Walz.

"The biggest reason why I snapped was because I got tired of answering questions from the media why we couldn't win," Walz said. "And all we had to do was win one period and everybody would go away. Everything would change. No more questions.

"We were so tense on the road and scared to make mistakes. When you're nervous and tense, your legs aren't there and you feel you're skating uphill all the time."

Besides the return of a healthy Gaborik, the biggest difference between the Wild on the road in the second half compared to the first was intensity, Lemaire said. He'll remind the team tonight.

"We have to establish right away winning road hockey games and getting in those tight games and winning them in the third period," left winger Brian Rolston said. "I'd like to get in a position where we start winning on the road and teams start talking about us like teams were taking about Anaheim last year."

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com

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