theScore's new series, "The Noise," is published every Monday. It kicks off each week with a quick look at three teams or players making headlines, good or bad.
Wild ride
The Wild won't give an inch.
Bruce Boudreau's Central Division leaders prevailed in the third with go-ahead markers in consecutive nights this weekend. They beat Dallas after coughing up a lead, and then extended their remarkable winning streak over the second-place Blackhawks to eight games Sunday. More important than winning in ways that precede Boudreau's arrival, the Wild now sit two points up on Chicago with four games in their pocket.
Minnesota has 17 wins, one shootout loss, and one regulation loss in its last 19 games. Wild. Its NHL-best plus-46 scoring margin is greater than the combined goal differential of every Western Conference team that's outscoring the competition this season.
Still, Minnesota isn't running away with the Central, let alone the President's Trophy and top record in the NHL. Despite their run, the Wild have the league's third-best points percentage. The absence of complacency should bode well for a team that hasn't advanced past the second round in 14 years.
Flyers shook?
For a while, Philadelphia ran with the lead pack in the NHL's top division. The Flyers were one of five Metropolitan teams sprinting ahead in the Eastern Conference, their pace established with 10 consecutive wins into the middle of December.
Philadelphia was two points from both first and fifth at the end of its streak. So when the Flyers inevitably cooled, they immediately lost ground while the other four teams challenging for three postseason seeds - the Blue Jackets, Capitals, Penguins, and Rangers - kept a relentless pace.
Now, with just a single regulation win in 14 games, and having been outscored 51-27 since their hot streak, the torpedoing Flyers are fortunate to have taken nine of a possible 28 points.
Philadelphia still clings to a wild-card spot, largely due to the weakness of the Atlantic Division, but when it return from the mandated bye week, the task will almost certainly be regaining the postseason spot it's lost.
Useful Juuse
One trend in this compressed NHL season has been the scramble for capable support in net. Too many teams have dropped points because backups haven't given them a chance while its starter catches their breath.
There has been no such dilemma for the Predators.
Juuse Saros' arrival, and his sterling contributions behind Pekka Rinne, have been the difference in Nashville becoming the eighth-best puck-stopping team after finishing in the bottom tier a season ago.
With 35 saves in a 2-1 win over the Bruins last week, Saros now sports a 1.25 goals-against average and .957 save percentage across eight starts. He's let in one goal for every 23.4 shots faced in his first taste of NHL action.
Fresh, having not been used in consecutive nights since Saros' recall, Rinne's offered one of his better statistical seasons.
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