Wild might be the talk of the NHL, but they find out Avalanche are the team to beat

Life is good for the Wild.

They’re the talk of the NHL after doling out the richest contract the league has ever had and then pulling off the biggest trade in franchise history.

Their games have become appointment viewing, with Quinn Hughes’ arrival in the shake-up of the season anointing the Wild as bona fide contenders.

But as prolific as the Wild’s rise has been from a catastrophic start — they’re a superb 19-4-2 since Nov. 1 — they haven’t made up any ground on the two teams in front of them.

In fact, they’ve lost a point on Colorado and Dallas since their turnaround from a miserable 3-6-3 October. After fading 5-1 to the Avalanche on Dec. 21 at Grand Casino Arena and whiffing on their chance to guarantee they would get closer, the Wild are 10 points back of first-place Colorado and six shy of No. 2 Dallas.

“Might be tough to catch up to [the Avalanche] if they got two [regulation] losses by Christmastime,” veteran center Nico Sturm said.

Fair enough, but this matchup isn’t going away, and neither is the significance.

As long as the Central Division rivals are huddled near the top of the leaderboard with the Stars, they will continue to act as checkpoints for each other to gauge just how ready they are to go from challenger to champion.

“They’re the best team in the league right now in the standings, and we want to be the best at the end of the year,” Sturm said. “So, those are the teams you got to beat. In playoffs, you got to go through them anyways. Might as well get accustomed to it.”

After the Wild ended Colorado’s season-best 10-game winning streak in November, the Avalanche returned the favor twofold.

They handed the Wild their first regulation loss at home in 15 games and nixed their run of seven straight victories, which tied their season high.

“We were a little bit on our back heels trying to feel where they’re at and show them a little bit too much respect,” veteran winger Mats Zuccarello said. “Instead, teams like that, you got to go right away and put pressure on them. They’re too good. I didn’t think we had our ‘A’ game today, and then you’re not going to win against a team like that when you don’t have your ‘A’ game.”

“We took a couple too many [penalties], more than you’d want to take,” coach John Hynes said. “But I also attribute that to I just don’t think we were as sharp.”

The asterisk next to this outcome is the schedule that had the Wild finishing off a back-to-back and a seven-game, 11-day blitz.

“We don’t use yesterday having played and them being fresh as an excuse,” Sturm pointed out.

But it does affect the interpretation, and the Wild finding out as much about themselves is important.

Hughes is a game changer. Before facing the Avalanche, the Wild were 5-0 since acquiring him from Vancouver for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first-round draft pick and 4-0 with the defenseman in their lineup while outscoring the opposition 21-6.

“It’s a hockey play,” Zuccarello said. “Obviously, he hits my head a lot. I wouldn’t get hurt if it wasn’t contact to the head, but it is what it is.”

Kirill Kaprizov, signed to that record-setting eight-year, $136 million extension, and Matt Boldy are the only teammates in the NHL with at least 20 goals apiece, and the Wild’s other dynamic duo is in net with goaltenders Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt responsible for almost the same number of wins. Gustavsson has 12 and Wallstedt 10 in his rookie season.

The Wild deserve to be where they are, and they’re in the spotlight for good reason — especially amid the curiosity of how else President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin might fine-tune the roster.

But most nights, the Wild are someone’s Avalanche and not the other way around. So, when they do get into a situation where they can grade their game, the result is worth remembering.

“We still got them two more times on the road,” said Sturm, who won his first of two Stanley Cups with Colorado in 2022. “So, great test for us coming right out of the break, too, I think after the Olympics.