The case for the Minnesota Wild as a top Stanley Cup contender

Don’t let their last two games fool you. The Minnesota Wild are for real. And they’ve been pretty spectacular.

The Wild had been on the NHL’s hottest run through early December, winners of eight straight games before closing out their recent road trip with back-to-back defeats at L.A. and Vegas.

Minnesota’s loss to the Kings was the team’s first since Nov. 21, and put them one victory short of tying the franchise’s second-longest win streak (nine games, back in 2006-07). It was also the first time all season Minnesota had lost a game that was tied after two periods.

Sunday’s date with the Golden Knights was a back-and-forth affair where the Wild had an edge at 5-on-5 but lost the special teams battle.

As Minnesota headed home to face Carolina on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and Hulu), there was no panic setting in. Nor should there be. The Wild remain atop the Central Division, are tied for the second-most points in the league (39) and are sixth in overall points percentage (.696).

Even factoring in the weekend’s results, Minnesota has recently been the NHL’s best team.

Since their streak began on Nov. 24, the Wild have the most wins (8) and points (16) in the league, while scoring the third-most goals (40) and sitting 27th in goals-against average (2.30). Minnesota has been especially good at even strength, boasting the second-best 5-on-5 shooting percentage (11.3%) and the best shooting-plus-save percentage (105.6%).

What’s more, Minnesota was able to get most of that done without top blueliner and captain Jared Spurgeon, who missed eight games with a lower-body injury before returning to the lineup last Thursday in San Jose.

So how exactly did Minnesota emerge as a true Stanley Cup contender? It didn’t happen overnight.

The process started back in July, when general manager Bill Guerin