Strength of schedules of the Wild and contending teams

UPDATED

Morning from beautiful, sunny Vancouver. The Wild, 10-1-2 in its past 13, has beaten the Canucks twice in the past eight days and is 6-1 against Vancouver in seven meetings since March 10, 2013, including three straight wins in Vancouver.

Alex Edler is out for Vancouver. Banged-up Chris Tanev is playing and will be on top pair with Dan Hamhuis. Luca Sbisa moves to the left side and Yannick Weber comes back in for an all-Swiss pair.

Eddie Lack starting because Ryan Miller stinks vs. the Wild.

Same Wild lineup tonight. Coach Mike Yeo thoughts about playing Stu Bickel up front, although it doesn't like for long. That may sound outlandish to some, but after the Canucks ran around in St. Paul last week and injured Jason Zucker, Ryan Carter and took a run at Zach Parise, it was something Yeo is at least considered.

In the end, he decided why change a lineup that is 8-0-1 since the All-Star break and is a point from establishing a new franchise-record point streak of 11 games (8-0-2 right now)? Defenseman Matt Dumba has struggled the past two games, but the Wild is 22-8-1 with him in the lineup and Yeo typically likes Bickel up front more than on the back end. And up front, Stephane Veilleux was good the other night on the Wild's penalty kill, which is 25 for 25 since the All-Star break, so why take him out when Veilleux is needed in a PK role with Zucker, Carter and Matt Cooke hurt?

Yeo said he felt the Wild needed four lines that could play regular shifts tonight, and the three guys that have been playing on the fourth line -- Veilleux, Erik Haula and Kyle Brodziak -- have been a huge part of Minnesota's penalty kill "and quite frankly, nobody deserves to come out."

Jordan Schroeder, a Canucks first-round pick who scored his first goal with the Wild at home against Vancouver, makes his first trip back.

"It's exciting. This is where my pro career started. It's fun to be back here, but it's just another game that we have to win," Schroeder said.

I will be on Fox Sports North tonight during the pregame show and first intermission.

Yesterday on my plane ride out here, I put together a strength of schedule chart for the Wild and all the teams it's contending for a playoff spot with. The category, "Games vs. current playoff teams," is exactly that. If the top-8 in the West or East change in the coming days, that number listed for each team will be inaccurate afterward.

San Jose is in danger of falling out of the top 3 in the Pacific (top 3 in each division is essentially 1 through 6 and playoff locks), so suddenly the Sharks, Canucks, Flames and Kings are all jockeying with each other.

Tonight, the Wild will move into the top-8 tonight if it beats Vancouver in regulation AND Calgary loses to Boston in regulation. If that happens, the Wild would be tied in points (65) with Vancouver and Calgary but get into the top-8 because the Flames have played one more game.

The Jets are five up on the Wild for the first wildcard spot. They have still played three more games than Minnesota, so the Wild's still in a good spot if it keeps winning. But Winnipeg gets lowly Edmonton at home tonight.

I included regulation/overtime wins in the chart because that is the first tiebreaker after 82 games.

San Jose (66 points, 2^nd in Pacific)

Games left: 24

Away: 13

Games vs. current playoff team: 13

Back-to-Backs: 3

Regulation/overtime wins: 27

Note: Floundering of late. 5 of final 6 games vs. Colorado, Arizona, Dallas and Edmonton

Games left: 27

Home: 14

Away: 13

Games vs. current playoff team: 12

Back-to-Backs: 3

Note: Pretty much a .500 team lately and their defense is starting to get beat up. Last 2 games vs. Arizona and Edmonton at home.

Winnipeg (68 points, 1^st wildcard spot)

Games left: 24

Home: 13

Away: 11

Back-to-Backs: 2

Regulation/overtime wins: 24

Note: Arguably the easiest schedule the rest of the way, but they still have four games against St. Louis.

Calgary (65 points, 2^nd wildcard spot)

Games left: 26

Away: 14

Games vs. current playoff team: 11

Back-to-Backs: 4

Regulation/overtime wins: 28

Note: Pretty easy schedule and have a five-game homestand in the middle of the next month, including four current non-playoff teams.

Games left: 27

Home: 13

Away: 14

Games vs. current playoff team: 17

Back-to-Backs: 5

Note: The Wild's final 6 games and 8 of last 9 are against playoff teams, including a road trip to Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis. The Wild has lacked success in each of those cities, however, if those teams are locks with position just prior to the playoffs, could the Wild be facing teams in do-not-get-hurt-mode? Look for the Wild to try to add a scoring forward and defenseman before the March 2 trade deadline

Los Angeles (62 points, 10^th)

Games left: 27

Home: 11

Away: 16

Back-to-Backs: 3

Regulation/overtime wins: 24

Note: Actively looking for a defenseman to replace suspended Slava Voynov. Lots of road games left. Despite the fact the Kings were so good on the road in last year's playoffs, they've been fairly awful this year.

Dallas (60 points, 11^th)

Games left: 26

Away: 14

Games vs. current playoff team: 19

Back-to-Backs: 4

Regulation/overtime wins: 24

Note: Tyler Seguin is out with a knee injury.

Games left: 26

Home: 13

Away: 13

Games vs. current playoff team: 15

Back-to-Backs: 5