Wild hoping for breakthrough as long homestand ends

Kirill Kaprizov is rolling, picking up points on a regular basis.

The players around him are also producing, and the performance in the defensive zone is still among the stingiest in the NHL since a porous start.

Add all these factors up, and the Wild have a chance to change the tempo of their season from a seesaw to a soar.

"We need to put some games together," coach Dean Evason said. "We need to have some separation now. We can't just play a good game and then fall off and make some mistakes, turn pucks over and give teams an opportunity.

"We have to continue to do what we're doing."

More than a quarter through their schedule, the Wild have maxed out at two victories in a row.

After recalibrating wins in Montreal and Ottawa, they faltered the next time out in a narrow loss to Detroit. Then they were blanked by Seattle on the heels of feel-good efforts against Chicago and Montreal again.

Their West Coast road trip ended on the upswing at Anaheim and Seattle, but San Jose quashed that momentum in the Wild's return home. Most recently, Toronto played spoiler following impressive displays vs. Carolina and Winnipeg.

But after holding off Arizona last Sunday and upending Edmonton 5-3 on Thursday, the Wild could be better equipped to achieve that elusive third win on Saturday afternoon when the team concludes a seven-game homestand at Xcel Energy Center against Anaheim. Next up after that is a four-game road trip that begins in Dallas before a tour of Western Canada.

"When the team starts winning, your game comes easier," Kaprizov said in Russian through an interpreter. "You play better. You score more. Everything starts working well when you do that.

"That's kind of what's happening right now."

Kaprizov is on a tear, his career-long point streak at 10 games while his nine-game assist streak is a franchise record.

Since this surge started Nov. 9 at Anaheim, the winger has the third-most points in the NHL with 17 after back-to-back three-point showings.

"He drives himself and drives himself and wants to lead the team by his work ethic, and he does that every night," Evason said. "Clearly if he does that, he puts himself in a spot to have offensive opportunities."

Still, the Wild have had other sources of offense.

No one scored more than once in each of the team's past two victories, with Kaprizov and Sam Steel the only players to contribute in both games. Steel continues to center Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello after a promotion to the top line two weeks ago.

"Right from the start it was a big opportunity," said Steel, who is in his first Wild season after signing a one-year contract in the summer as a free agent. "I'd like to think that I earned it there, and it wasn't just something that they throw me in there just to see. They make it easy to play with, and we had a good night [Thursday]. But I think we've been working in the right direction. So it's nice to get rewarded."

These goals, however, wouldn't stand up if the Wild weren't effectively guarding their own net, and that's what they've largely done over the last month-plus.

Not since they gave up 20 goals in Week 1 has their own end been a persistent problem, with the Wild's 2.18 goals-against average from Oct. 25 on the third best in the NHL.

"We got to the point now where we understand how we have to defend," Matt Dumba said, "and how that has to happen consistently night to night."

Already this season the Wild have had success against the Ducks, but the past doesn't always preview the future.

That would certainly apply if the Wild finally nixed this two-and-out trend and took off on a run.

"We're in a position now that we have that confidence in our game," Dumba said, "and understand what works for this team."