StaTuesday: Minnesota Wild's January to remember

The Minnesota Wild’s impressive first half of the season has induced fans to dream of a Stanley Cup parade marching down Kellogg Boulevard. However, some Minnesota sports fanatics may be hesitant to jump on the bandwagon and ride it all the way down to the Xcel Energy Center due to the state’s recent troubles that have followed promising starts.

On the football field, the Vikings were among the early NFL favorites to compete for a Super Bowl before plummeting to a 3-8 record down the stretch. A young Gophers basketball team started the year 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten, only to lose its next five games.

But this Minnesota Wild team is different.

Minnesota sits atop the Western Conference heading into Tuesday night's game in Edmonton with 69 points and three games in hand over the second-place Chicago Blackhawks, who trail the Wild by four points.

Fans that aren’t fully on the bandwagon should hop on now, because the team survived – and actually, dominated – one of the NHL’s toughest tests: the month of January.

January has been problematic for the Wild the past few seasons. Known as the “dog days” of hockey, players often grow weary of the NHL’s demanding schedule and skate through (pun intended) games preluding the All-Star break. In fact, the previous two seasons saw Minnesota finish the month a combined 8-13-5.

With one January game remaining on the 2016-17 schedule, the Wild have scored twice the amount of goals than last year’s offensive effort in the opening month. Their 13.26 shot percentage in January is more than double of last year’s lowly 6.02 percent.

The Wild are also seeing great production in the power play, converting on 11 out of 35 total opportunities in January. During the previous two seasons, the Wild combined for only 10 January power-play goals.

Minnesota Wild in January (Since 2015)

A large part to the Wild’s recent success in January, and throughout the rest of the season, is the number of contributing cast members on offense. The Wild had one player record double-digit points in January the past two seasons combined – Jason Pominvillle racked up 10 assists and added a goal in 2015. Last January, the Wild were led by defenseman Ryan Suter’s mere seven points.

But in January 2017, six Minnesota Wild players have tallied double-digit points. Mikko Koivu’s and Nino Niederreiter’s six goals apiece lead the way for Minnesota, while Mikael Granlund is riding a nine-game point streak out of the All-Star break.

Double-Digit Point Scorers in January (Since 2015)

Why the mass amount of contributors? It could be attributed to head coach Bruce Boudreau’s tendency to keep his top players fresh.

Suter, who has led Minnesota in ice time since his debut season with the Wild in 2012, has averaged almost two minutes less on the ice this January compared to 2016. The Wild currently have only four players averaging over 19 minutes per game in January, countering Boudreau’s predecessor who had six players skating over 19 minutes per January game the past two seasons.

Time on Ice Per Game Leaders in January (Since 2015)