Less than two weeks ago, the St. Louis Blues came to St. Paul for their final head-to-head meeting with the Minnesota Wild this season. The Wild, at the time, had a comfortable position in the playoff picture, while the Blues — who went through a coaching change in November following a slow start to the season — were on the outside looking in. Minnesota had won the first three meetings with St. Louis in 2024-25, and a win on March 15 at Xcel Energy Center would effectively have put the Blues in the Wild’s proverbial rearview mirror for the rest of the regular season. Instead, St. Louis posted a decisive 5-1 victory, and now those objects in the mirror may be closer than they once appeared. Since returning from the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, Minnesota and St. Louis have each played 17 games. The Wild are 8-8-1 in those contests after losing their last two in a row. The Blues are 13-2-2 in that same stretch, and now are not only solidly in the playoff race, but are pushing to overtake Minnesota for the top Wild Card spot. With both teams off on Wednesday, St. Louis is just two points behind Minnesota, and for the first time, at least one Wild player is sounding the alarm about the team’s March malaise and what it could mean to their prospects of playing beyond the April 15 regular-season finale. “Everything can happen in the playoffs, but first we’ve gotta worry about getting (in),” Wild veteran forward Mats Zuccarello said after Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to Vegas. While others are adopting an optimistic tone about looking forward and embracing the challenge in front of them, Zuccarello spoke of a team not doing enough with what it’s got right now. “You play a solid game defensively but I think, as of late, not scoring enough, maybe,” he said after Monday night’s loss to the Golden Knights. “I said it before, we’ve gotta make plays. We’ve gotta support each other. We’ve gotta have guys come with speed. “I don’t know. It’s hard. Today, you can mix and match, back-to-back, but we play against a team that it’s really hard to play against when they play like that, and we don’t play like us.” The Tuesday loss means Vegas swept the season series with Minnesota, winning twice in St. Paul and once in Nevada. Earlier in the season, Western Conference-leading Winnipeg — which clinched a playoff spot with a home win on Tuesday — swept its season series with the Wild, as well. As the standings look right now, the two Wild Card entrants will have to face either the Golden Knights or the Jets in Round 1. While goaltending is far and away the most important element in playoff success, the teams that go deep in the postseason generally have three vital pieces: a gritty player who will drop the gloves if needed to defend the skill, a sizable center who will go to the front of the opponent’s net to cause trouble, and a high-skilled star who is a threat to score on every shift. On Tuesday, the Wild had all three of those players at Xcel Energy Center in the form of Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov. Notably, all three were wearing suits and ties, watching the game from the press box as the team’s season-long injury saga continued. Before the Vegas game, when a reporter suggested that the Wild are “reeling” from the number of injuries, Wild coach John Hynes said the word “amassing” is more fitting, and once again offered an optimistic tone about eventually getting healthier at the most vital time of the year. Kaprizov has played only three games since Christmas yet remains tied for the team lead with 23 goals. Eriksson Ek has played in 42 games, with nine goals and 15 assists, but not since returning from his stint with Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Before Monday’s loss, Hynes said he “would anticipate both players will be skating in the very, very near future.” The Wild have exactly 10 regular-season games remaining, starting Thursday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference. “When those guys are ready to come in and help the team, then we’ll expect them to come back at a high level and be ready to compete,” Hynes said. Exactly when those three key players will return, and what the Western Conference standings will look like if and when they do, is now a growing concern as those objects in the mirror continue to get larger. Related Articles No luck when Vegas visits as Wild drop second in a row Injured Wild forwards could be skating in the “very, very near future” Winning streak ends with a thud, as Wild are blanked in Dallas Wild being cautious, gradual with Jonas Brodin’s return Contenders or pretenders? Wild may find out this week ...read more read less