The Minnesota Wild host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night as the two teams will approach the game from completely different mind sets.
With the NHL regular season coming to a close, the Kings are fighting to hang onto their narrow Pacific Division lead which currently has them just two points ahead of fourth place San Jose and one point in front of Dallas and Phoenix. Every point is vital because not only could the Kings lose the Division title with a poor finish to the season but they could end up out of the playoffs if they stumble through over the final week of the season.
As for the Wild, they are playing out the season and looking ahead. While losing for better draft position may be a silver lining to losses at this point. This post at Hockey Wilderness finds winning still worth rooting for as the season comes to a close.
I believe the Wild could pick as good a player with the 2nd pick as they could with the 5th or the 8th, etc. Hence, I still don't want to see the Wild lose, but I fully understand why many fans do. All I know is that I'm glad they're not getting blown out in the games they do lose. I want to be able to look forward to next season. Mikael Granlund won't magically fix everything. The team needs to finish well and build themselves up for next season from there.
The puck drops at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox Sports North.
For more on the Minnesota Wild, check out Hockey Wilderness. You can check out more hockey news from around the league at SB Nation's NHL page.