WINNIPEG – The Wild felt it needed to improve its record as the visitor in the second half of the regular season to advance to the playoffs.
Now the team will have to win on the road just to stay in them, as Minnesota returns to Winnipeg for Game 5 on Friday against the Jets trying to extend the first-round, best-of-seven series after tripping into a 3-1 hole.
"You love to win at home," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "You love to play in front of your fans and everything, but every good team has to win usually one game on the road that's very decisive. Obviously [Friday] night's an important game."
To remain relevant beyond this series, the Wild will require two road victories. But the team is keeping its focus narrow and ignoring the big picture, a smart plan considering how grim it looks; the Wild hasn't won in Winnipeg all season, including Games 1 and 2, and the Jets haven't lost on home ice since Feb. 27 — a string of 11 consecutive victories.
"If you look at beating Winnipeg three times in a row, you're looking at, 'Wow, that's a pretty daunting task,' " Boudreau said. "But you gotta look at it as just playing one game. Just win one game. And when you wake up the morning after you win the one game, you just think about winning one more game. And that's the way you think about it."
It's a similar outlook to how the Wild embarks on the regular season, breaking the 82-game grind into weekly segments and vying to pocket more wins than losses by the end of each. The team is also familiar with having to figure out a solution for its road woes.
After completing the first half of its schedule, the Wild sat a subpar 8-12-1 in away games. Since then, the team got better — finishing 10-8-2 to end up 18-20-3.
This progress seemed to come with the understanding the Wild's style must be different on the road than at home. Without the boost of a friendly crowd and the energy that comes with a comfortable environment, the team had to become more strategic.