Minnesota Wild having recent success regaining identity as solid defensive team

The Wild crowding around their net to celebrate wins isn't unusual.

That's where they always tend to congregate.

But lately the location for these postgame huddles has been especially appropriate.

After straying from the stingy hockey that's led to most of their success, the Wild recalibrated with a pair of tidy victories against two top-10 offenses.

"Our identity is playing strong defensively first," center Frederick Gaudreau said. "It feels good to play within that identity."

In their last two games, the Wild have been a vault at even strength.

They limited Edmonton to a power play goal in a 2-1 win on Monday and before that, the Wild blanked Vancouver 3-0 to finish .500 on their four-game road trip. The 21 shots the Oilers registered on Monday matched their season low, which also came in their other setback against the Wild on Dec. 1.

"We were doing the right things offensively that we didn't have to play as much defense," coach Dean Evason said. "We held onto pucks. We didn't blindly throw pucks through the neutral zone. We didn't blindly throw pucks into the slot when it wasn't there."

Before this turnaround, the Wild were tagged for five goals in three consecutive games and 19 over their past four.

Not every outcome was a loss — they did eke out a 6-5 shootout win at Dallas on Dec. 4 — but they've had much more control when scoring is sparse compared to the letdowns Dec. 7 vs. Calgary (5-3) and Dec. 9 in Edmonton (5-2). Overall, the Wild's 2.48 goals-against average since Oct. 25 is tied for fourth in the NHL.

"We didn't think we were playing that terrible defensively," Evason said. "It was just ending up in our net."

What's been working for the Wild?

Their goaltending has been sharp: Filip Gustavsson's 35 saves vs. Vancouver sealed his first career shutout and extended his career-long win streak to four games, while Marc-Andre Fleury ended a two-game slide with his 20-save performance against Edmonton and 10th victory this season.

"Definitely a little more fun for the goalies and less frustrating at the end," Fleury said. "I think we can have success playing that way. I think we played a great game in Vancouver. Gus obviously played a great game and got the shutout. Then [on Monday] we didn't give them too many shots or too many chances. That was a big difference."

This cleanup in their own zone has also coincided with the return of Jonas Brodin.

He's been back on the blue line for the last three games after missing six of seven, first with illness and then a lower-body injury.

"I felt pretty good," Brodin said. "I thought the first game in Edmonton was pretty rough, or not rough, but I thought a little bit tired. Been off for over 15 days. But I thought Vancouver was good, and then [Monday] I thought was a good game, too. It's getting better and better."

During these back-to-back wins, the Wild have owned almost 55% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 while Brodin has been on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. He also had a clutch shorthanded shot block against the Oilers' Connor McDavid on Monday night in the waning seconds to help preserve the Wild's victory.

"He's a guy that can skate so well and sometimes break up the play himself and get the puck out of the zone," Fleury said. "He's a very talented 'D'. Very fun to have on my side."

Up next for the Wild is a visit from Detroit on Wednesday and if the rematch is like the first meeting, the timing of this reset couldn't be better.

Back on Oct. 29, the Red Wings prevailed 2-1.

"It's always nice when you play a good defensive game," winger Matt Boldy said. "That usually leads to a lot of offense, too. So, it's really nice to be playing well back there."