Wild rematch with Golden Knights kicks off potentially wild stretch to end season

What have the Wild earned by prevailing in 16 of their past 22 games?

First place in the Central Division and a bib in the race to rank No. 1 in the Western Conference.

What else do they have to show for just two regulation losses in that stretch and six games left in the regular season?

Little separation from their closest competition and an uphill climb to become best in the West.

"It seems like everyone's winning games that we're fighting for that spot for," Matt Boldy said. "Yeah, it's going to be tight, but we knew that."

This stingy reward system was in effect last week.

After the Wild kicked off a road trip at Colorado with a 4-2 statement victory that widened their cushion atop the division to three points, a 5-2 Avalanche victory over Dallas coupled with the Wild's 4-1 lapse at Vegas on Saturday night scaled their buffer back to a single point while also dropping them four points behind the conference-leading Golden Knights.

But the Wild can address both situations on Monday in a rematch with Vegas at Xcel Energy Center.

"You can't start sliding now," Ryan Reaves said. "There's only a couple games left. Everything's within a couple points. We're still chasing first in the West. It's still there. We gotta beat these guys on Monday, and we just keep going."

A narrow margin of error isn't just playing out in the standings.

That was also the reality on the ice between the Wild and Golden Knights on Saturday.

Initially, the Wild were in charge, building a 9-0 shot advantage that included Matt Boldy's 12th goal in his last 11 games. But a broken stick mishap preceded Vegas' first goal, and then a stealthy shot through traffic led to the second — a 6 minute, 18 second turnaround in the first period that sunk the Wild into a hole that only got deeper, with the Golden Knights capitalizing again to go up 3-1 before tacking on an empty-netter.

"A couple small mistakes," Reaves said.

There were chances to atone, but the Wild didn't convert and they were limited to less than two goals for the first time they fell 1-0 in a shootout to Calgary on March 7.

"We were getting our looks," Reaves said. "It felt like there was 10 minutes where we were in their zone peppering them and one just wouldn't go in."

The loss also included an injury to Mason Shaw, who left the game after crashing awkwardly into the boards in the first period.

Shaw was helped off the ice and after the game, coach Dean Evason said the forward had a lower-body injury and would be evaluated.

"You don't want to see a guy like that go down with an injury," Marcus Foligno said. "We're hoping it's not long. When you see a guy that just gives everything every shift and goes down with a freak accident, it takes the wind out of your sails a little bit."

Not since February have the Wild had everyone available.

Kirill Kaprizov is still on the mend from a lower-body injury suffered March 8, but Evason said recently Kaprizov is close to resuming skating. Gustav Nyquist, who arrived in a trade from Columbus with a shoulder injury, continues to practice, and the hope is he plays before the playoffs.

Regardless of who's in the Wild's lineup, what's at stake isn't changing: they have only six more games to hold off the teams behind them and close the gap they're trailing.

"You want to have a great regular season," Foligno said, "but we know that we just gotta get in and be in the playoffs."