Wild's Granlund among league's best in December

The Minnesota Wild caught fire in December, wowing the rest of the NHL with a franchise-record 12-game winning streak that came to an end on New Year's Eve.

But while the team's record has gotten most of the attention, center Mikael Granlund has been on an impressive run of his own.

Granlund has been on a tear recently, and had another multi-point game in the Wild's streak-busting loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He burned goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for a goal and an assist, registering his fifth multi-point performance in his last eight games after having just three multi-point performances in the first 28 games of the season.

Granlund has 15 points in his last 12 games, tied with Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, as well as Chicago Blackhawks sophomore Artemi Panarin, for the league lead since Dec. 7.

Most points from December 7-31, 2016

Granlund's surge has translated to an uptick in scoring for the defensively conservative Wild, who have scored at least two goals in each of their last 20 games, the longest such streak in the NHL.

Most Consecutive Games Scoring 2+ Goals

*Since 2014-15. Regular season only, single-season streaks only

 

Plenty of that success can be attributed to head coach Bruce Boudreau, who is enjoying his typical regular-season success.

Boudreau's Wild went 12-1-1 in December, tied for the best single-month record of his NHL coaching career.

Bruce Boudreau, best record in a single month

(Minimum 10 games, regular season only)