Wild's Boudreau: 'We're going to make the playoffs'

Bruce Boudreau is calling his shot.

Despite the Minnesota Wild losing six of their last seven games, the team's head coach is feeling confident about playing extra games this spring.

"We're going to make the playoffs," Boudreau said, according to Sarah McLellan of the Star Tribune. "That's about as elaborate as I want to get. You want me to predict how many wins we're going to have in the last month and a half? No. But we're going to make the playoffs."

The Wild currently sit in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference amid an extremely tight playoff race. The team is just two points back of the St. Louis Blues for the first wild-card position, but also only two points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks.

For his part, Boudreau appears more optimistic about his roster than he did a week ago. Following a loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the coach told reporters, "There's some guys there that just are a shell of the players that I've known for two-and-a-half years."

The Wild will look to get back in the win column on Friday against the New Jersey Devils - the only team they've defeated this month.