(SportsNetwork.com) - The Minnesota Wild hope to return to the win column Saturday, when the struggling club emerges from the Christmas break to host the Winnipeg Jets in the opener of a home-and-home series.
Minnesota made it to the second round of last spring's playoffs and was a favorite to return to the postseason in 2014-15. Things have not gone as planned, however, and the Wild find themselves six points out of a playoff spot in the West.
The Wild also are sitting fifth in the Central Division -- eight points behind the fourth-place Jets and just one ahead of Colorado.
Minnesota is currently mired in a four-game losing streak (0-2-2), matching the club's 0-4 mark from Nov. 4-11 for its lengthiest skid of the season. The Wild haven't dropped five straight since an 0-6 slide from Dec. 19-31 of last season.
The usually sting Wild have imploded defensively during their current slide, allowing a total of 19 goals over the four setbacks. Minnesota yielded five goals in Tuesday's setback to the Philadelphia Flyers, who posted a 5-2 win to drop the Wild to 0-1-2 on a four-game homestand.
Marco Scandella and Charlie Coyle scored against the Flyers. Darcy Kuemper stopped 25 shots in the setback.
"I think it's a blessing that we have three days off to step away," said Wild forward Matt Cooke.
Kuemper was pressed into duty for Niklas Backstrom after the latter netminder was a late scratch due to an illness. It's uncertain who will get the call in net tonight.
Mike Yeo's club hopes its recent success against the Jets can help it get back on track. The Wild posted a 4-3 overtime win over a visiting Winnipeg club on Nov. 16, giving Minnesota wins in two straight and five of the last six meetings in this series.
The Wild are 6-1-1 with a tie in nine all-time home tests against the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise. The clubs will meet again in Monday's rematch at MTS Centre.
Winnipeg finished its pre-break schedule on a four-game point streak (3-0-1) and it posted an impressive victory in its final tilt before the hiatus.
The Jets visited Chicago on Tuesday and slammed the Central Division-leading Blackhawks, 5-1. Mathieu Perreault continued his hot play of late with two goals to lift Winnipeg in the rout at United Center.
Perreault has tallied five goals and four assists over an eight-game point streak and Tuesday's performance was his first multi-point game of the run.
Blake Wheeler finished with a goal and an assist, Bryan Little and Anthony Peluso also scored and Andrew Ladd supplied two helpers for the Jets. Michael Hutchinson, who posted a 33-save shutout in Winnipeg's 1-0 over Chicago on Nov. 2, was stellar once again, turning aside 38 shots for the win.
"Hutchinson was good for us and made some key saves at the right times," said Perreault. "When we got our chances, we were able to put them in."
Jets coach Paul Maurice may continue his goaltender rotation tonight and give Ondrej Pavelec the start over Hutchinson. Pavelec is 2-2-1 with a 2.55 goals against average in seven career outings against Minnesota.
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