The last time the Wild ventured west for a road trip, the team took off – winning five out of seven away from Xcel Energy Center.
And the Wild will try to rediscover that recipe for success Tuesday to nix a three-game slide when it visits the Canucks in Vancouver for the start of a three-game tour of Canada.
"We got into just playing the right way, and we played the right way," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Even the game in Vancouver that started it, I thought we played a really good game for the most part. Once you got on a roll and you believed you were going to win, things started happening. So hopefully that'll happen again."
A stop in Vancouver started that five-in-seven run, one of just two losses in that span. The Canucks upended the Wild 5-2, and the team is expecting the encore to be just as challenging.
"We're in a spot we don't want to be," said captain Mikko Koivu, referring to the team's season-long losing streak. "We want to get out of it as soon as possible. Tonight's a good chance to do it. We also know they're healthier than they were when we last played them. I think they're playing good hockey. They're tough to beat, especially in this building. So we gotta be ready for a hard hockey game."
While that trip was a fruitful one for the Wild, the road hasn't been as successful of a backdrop of late.
Since that 5-2 showing, the Wild has dropped two straight as the visitor.
But when the team left the Twin Cities for an extended period, it found a groove that keyed one of its most productive stretch of the season.
