ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mike Yeo says he doesn't look at a particular stretch of games, even the one facing his Minnesota Wild, as any kind of "measuring stick."
Minnesota's head coach will certainly know how the Wild measure up against the best teams in the NHL by season's end though.
Beginning Friday night with a home game against the Anaheim Ducks, 13 of Minnesota's final 15 games are against teams currently in a playoff spot. Another, April 6, is at home against the Winnipeg Jets, who are ninth in the Western Conference heading into Friday.
"Right now, this is where you make your money," Yeo said after Friday's morning skate. "Whether you got yourself in the playoffs, whether you got yourself in a playoff position, whether you are on the outside looking in, you have to find a way to play your best hockey. You have to find a way to go into tough buildings to win hockey games and to come out with points, and that's what we're facing."
The Wild travel to St. Louis on Saturday for the second game of a back-to-back situation. Anaheim leads the West's Pacific Division. The Blues currently hold the top spot in the Central Division based on a tiebreakers. Minnesota's lone game over the final month of the season without a possible playoff team is March 23 at Toronto.
"I don't think there's anybody in the league that has a tougher schedule than us from here on out," Yeo said.
Friday's game is a potential playoff preview. Based on the current standings, the Wild would face the Ducks in the first round.
Yeo said it's impossible not to look at the standings, but he also isn't getting caught up in the constantly shifting landscape. The seedings are so close, they can change nightly. He also sticks to the mantra of focusing on one game at a time but knows the task ahead for the Wild.
"It will be a tough stretch of games, there's no question about that," Minnesota forward Zach Parise said. "It will be good to see where we are at. We've played some teams that aren't in the playoffs lately. So it will be good to see where we're at compared to these guys who have had a pretty good hold on their division lead for a while now. They've been a really good team all season. It starts with these guys. It will be a good challenge."
The Wild's 19-4-2 stretch since Jan. 15 is the best mark in the NHL and has propelled Minnesota to the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
During the stretch, the Wild have gained confidence they can play with the league's best teams. At the end of February, Minnesota left for a two-game road trip after a tough home loss to Edmonton. The Wild won at Nashville and Colorado.
"We all believe in here that we're going to do it and that we're capable of doing it," said goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who has helped spark the run. "To have that challenge and that caliber of teams that we need to beat going in will put us in a good spot. If we're able to do it and get in the playoffs, we're going to be in a good mindset going in there."
Minnesota's run helped the team overcome a sluggish December and start to January. There is no margin for error. The Wild are two points ahead of eighth-place Los Angeles and three points ahead of Winnipeg.
"In a lot of ways it would be real nice to have a big cushion and every game not mean as much as it does right now for us," Yeo said. "On the same token, I've been a part of those teams and when you're games not quite sharp and you're playing against all these teams that are real hungry, you kind of limp into the playoffs and that's not what you want. If we do get in, and we believe that we will. Our game is going to have to be real good along the way. And that means when we do get in, we're ready."
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