SEATTLE — The Wild have worked hard for the chance to scoreboard watch, so maybe they should just go for the ride, even if it’s bound to be a bumpy one. It’s still better than where this team was at the end of November.

When John Hynes succeeded Dean Evason as head coach on Nov. 28, the Wild were on a seven-game losing streak, and at the point in their season where they either had to turn it around or continue to flounder.

Which is why Bill Guerin made the switch.

Since then, the Wild are 22-14-2, still out of a Western Conference playoff spot but awfully close — two points out heading into Saturday’s late game against the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena and riding some momentum.

On Friday, the Wild handed Edmonton its first regulation loss at Rogers Place since Dec. 16. The Wild were outshot 43-18, but got timely third-period goals from Jonas Brodin, Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello to hold off the hard-charging Oilers.

“That’s kind of what this part of the season is all about, right?” defenseman Jake Middleton said. “It’s grinding out wins, and that’s what we did here tonight.”

The win improved the Wild to 6-1-1 since they returned from the all-star break on Feb. 7. Now, it’s real. Minnesota has every chance to make its fourth consecutive postseason appearance, and with a month and a half left to play, the Wild don’t need to rely on their rivals losing games.

Although it certainly helps.

“You pay attention to the other stuff a little bit,” said Boldy, who scored twice on Friday and now has seven goals and 14 points in his past 10 games. “Obviously, we need to get the job done and play well.”

That last part is Hynes’ take.

“If you’re sitting there going — like Thursday night — ‘We want this team to (lose),’ I think it really takes your energy away, and it really takes you off the focus you need. I don’t think, at this point, the scoreboard watching does any good.”

The Wild have a chance Saturday to do a little of both. Seattle is 11th in the West, one point behind Minnesota, which is battling about a half-dozen teams for one of the conference’s two wild-card spots. It’s the standard late-season, four-point game.

The last time Minnesota had one of these, Jan. 25 at Xcel Energy Center, the Wild came out flat in a 3-2 loss to the Predators, two points ahead of the Wild in ninth place. Those teams meet Thursday in Nashville.

“We can only control what we control, and that’s kind of the mindset every night we go into a game,” said Middleton, who had the first assist on Boldy’s first goal, which opened a 1-0 lead on Friday with 23 seconds left in the first period.

“But we’re always watching. We’re fans of the game, too, so we’re keeping an eye on things.”

Coaches, maybe not so much.

“For me, I think it’s a little too much of a roller coaster at this point in the season,” Hynes said.

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