NEWARK, N.J. - Wild speedster Jason Zucker had a nearly 30-minute drive home from the rink to think about his worst game of the season - his words, not ours. Yet as soon as he walked in the front door of his Edina home, his frustration began melting away.
Suddenly, the 4-3 overtime loss to the last-place Arizona Coyotes didn't matter as much, nor did the fact that he was a very obvious minus-3 in the matchup.
In that moment, the only thing that Zucker was thinking about was his 3-month-old son, Hendrix.
"He was still awake when I got home," Zucker said. "So, I let (wife) Carly get some sleep, which she doesn't get much of, and we hung out for a while until he fell asleep. It was really nice."
Since that debacle almost two weeks ago, Zucker has turned things around with goals in back-to-back games heading into the Thursday, Feb. 22, matchup with the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center. His two-goal outburst in Monday's 5-3 win over the New York Islanders pushed his total to a career-high 25 goals to go along with 18 assists.
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"I've seen a lot of maturity in him," coach Bruce Boudreau said, noting that the 26-year-old is still "streaky" from time to time. "We talk all the time about being more consistent, and I think he has been for the most part."
Whether he is riding a five-game goal streak or an eight-game goalless drought, Zucker has tried his best to approach the game the same way.
"It's just about being smart when I'm playing and making sure that I'm doing the right things no matter what," he explained. "If I'm trying to make all these fancy plays, they might work for a while if I'm really feeling it, and then it's going to go downhill when I'm not. As cliche as it sounds, I've got to make sure I'm doing the right things ... and trust that if I'm doing those things, I'm going to score because of my ability."
That wasn't always the case earlier in his career, when a bad game would turn into a bad week and a bad week would turn into a bad month. Those peaks and valleys have been few and far between this season, and Zucker credited his son with keeping him balanced.
"It definitely made it a lot easier to relax and forget about some things," he said.
Zucker is up for a contract extension this offseason, and with the way he's been playing, it's reasonable to assume he'll get a hefty raise compared to the two-year, $4 million contract he signed on June 29, 2016.
It's no secret Zucker would like to stay in the Twin Cities. He has expressed that in the past, and the feeling has likely only intensified now that he has a family with Carly, step-daughter Sophia, and, of course, son Hendrix.
"You try not to think about it, even though it's one of those things where it's going to come up at some point," Zucker said. "I've done better at it this time around. I remember last time I worried about it a lot, and tried to do too much at times and it got to be too much. This time around, with my previous experience, I know if I continue to do the things I need to do the rest will take care of itself."
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That would serve as the cherry on top for the best season of his career, though it would still pale in comparison to what has already been the best year of his life.
"The best part has been having my son around," he said. "You know, the goals are great and winning is great and us trying to catch third place in the Central Division is great. At the end of the day, though, there's nothing that can top him."
