Analysis: Wild are rolling with locker room close to bursting: ‘It feels like training camp’

The Wild’s post-win ceremony to award their team hat to a player of the game is like attending a sold-out concert because it’s standing room only.

“It feels like training camp,” alternate captain Marcus Foligno said. “I was waiting for when we were going to make cuts, but they’re not doing that any time soon.”

On the ice, the Wild aren’t struggling from all the injuries they’ve suffered.

But they’re bursting at the seams in the locker room when the hurt and the healthy gather to commemorate a victory, and they keep celebrating despite the circumstances.

After the Wild made Washington look like a shell of itself and didn’t allow hockey’s all-time leading goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, to even put a shot on net in a 5-0 dusting Tuesday night at Grand Casino Arena, their accolades became even more eye-popping.

The Wild are on a five-game winning streak, plus a 13-game point streak in St. Paul, tied for the longest in franchise history.

“They’re playing really well,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “It’s a really good hockey team with a ton of elite, elite players, and their goaltenders are playing great. So, they don’t have a lot of holes over there on that lineup — even with the injuries that they have, which is scary to think about.”

Injuries eventually took their toll, and the Wild fell into a battle for a wild-card berth. A last-minute goal from Joel Eriksson Ek in the regular-season finale finally sealed their playoff spot.

But just because the Wild are dealing with the same adversity now doesn’t mean they’re on the verge of another fight to the finish line.

Their response is showing this season can follow a different trajectory.

“These are tough times,” Foligno said, “and you look back at them when you’re in the playoffs. It’s what gets you in.”

Never has this steadiness by the Wild looked more sustainable than when they were at their most vulnerable.

Quinn Hughes’ arrival and his ability to play nearly half the game compensated for the absences on defense, but the Wild’s short-staffed success precedes the Hughes trade.

The team hasn’t wavered because its competitiveness and attention to detail haven’t. Those are rock-solid. There isn’t a learning curve for the reinforcements because the same structure the Wild use is in place in the minors.

“When players come up and down,” Hynes said, “there is not a change of the tactical areas of the ice.”

But it’s the depth that was already on the roster that is making a big difference.

Without Zuccarello and Johansson, the Wild loaded up left winger Kirill Kaprizov, right winger Matt Boldy and Eriksson Ek on a single line Tuesday, but right winger Vladimir Tarasenko, center Danila Yurov and left winger Yakov Trenin stole the show against the Capitals. The group chipped in three goals, including a season-high two from Tarasenko, who used a between-the-legs move before setting up Yurov.

Both finished with three points apiece, a career best for Yurov.

“I had some stretches like this before in my career when a lot of key guys were hurt, and guys step up and team’s still playing well,” Tarasenko said. “I feel like our power is when we play as a team and we’re all on the same page. That’s what led guys to step up and fill the holes.”

Yurov’s emergence is especially timely.

Yurov, who turns 22 on Monday, is in his first NHL season after leaving Russia, and although Yurov didn’t think about the trade, his growth is why the Wild could move first-line center Marco Rossi to Vancouver to help them acquire Hughes on Friday in a deal that also cost the Wild defenseman Zeev Buium, forward Liam Ohgren and a first-round draft pick.

“I feel like [Yurov has] stopped being scared to make a mistake and play confident hockey, play a very solid 200-foot game,” said Tarasenko, who made the same switch from Russia to the NHL when he was 21.

“We talked before the game how we need to play,” he said. “I’m happy that we scored three goals, three good goals, and we did good job our line. It’s only one game, and we’re ready for next game.”

The Wild’s stars are shining as well.

Kaprizov and Boldy continue to score, with Kaprizov setting a franchise record for power-play goals after netting his 70th against Washington, a tally that also lifted him past Mikko Koivu for the second-most goals in Wild history. Kaprizov’s 206 goals are 13 shy of tying Marian Gaborik for first.

Filip Gustavsson picked up his third shutout of the season and is on a 7-1-1 roll. As for Hughes, it’s not a coincidence the Wild have erupted for 11 goals in his two games. That’s the effect a puck-mover of his caliber can have, and fellow defenseman Brock Faber keeps elevating his game alongside Hughes.

But the Wild are rolling because the whole has been greater than the sum of its parts.

“It’s firing on all cylinders,” Foligno said. “It’s fun to be a part of and to watch. Just a lot of things that you kind of have to keep your head on a swivel now with a lot of guys [doing] special things out there.