Torchetti gives Wild some extra rest ahead of final regular-season push

The toughest thing for coaches this time of year is to navigate between the need for rest and work.

Saturday, after the Wild beat the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout, Wild coach John Torchetti said "rest" would be critical with three days off between games Sunday against the St. Louis Blues and Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers.

Late Monday, Torchetti proved it.

Sensing fatigue in his team after it played eight games in 13 days and 15 games in 27 days, Torchetti followed Monday's collective bargaining agreement-mandated day off by canceling Tuesday's practice.

Torchetti felt the team could use an extra day's rest with a final regular-season push of 15 games in 31 days coming up.

After Sunday's loss to the Blues, veteran Ryan Carter said the recent schedule that included coast-to-coast road games had been "unrelenting."

Carter said the Wild needed to brush the defeat aside and "feel good about our game. We're coming off a nice little streak (8-4 under Torchetti, including two four-game winning streaks). We've gotten ourselves back in the conversation. Things are going in the right direction, so we have to make sure we focus on that coming off this [break]."

At Wednesday's practice, you can bet the Wild will work on the penalty kill. The Wild has given up eight power-play goals on 14 chances over the past eight games and 16 power-play goals on 47 chances over the past 16 games.

"It's funny how things like that go," said Carter, who has been on the ice for 16 power-play goals against this season, tied for most among Wild forwards. "The PK, it seems like everything's going in. At some point, they just stop going in.

"It'll be good to get some work on it, but like I said, it seems like everything and anything's going it. It's kind of an anomaly. We've got to just make sure that we're not overthinking it, overplaying it and trying to do too much, make sure we're doing our jobs out there and it'll work out."

The Wild announced Tuesday there will be a 4 percent average increase across all seating options for 2016-17 season tickets. Tickets next season will range from $25 to $104 per game, and $270 per game for premium on-the-glass seats, which includes access to an exclusive club where members enjoy complimentary food, beer, wine and nonalcoholic beverages.

Last season, 97 percent of Wild season-ticket holders renewed and a season-ticket waiting list was re-established.