The trip to the West Coast is one of the most daunting for every team in the NHL.

It involves travel crossing at least two times zones, to play games against three teams that are typically amongst the best in the League. A set of back-to-back games is almost always on the schedule, as well. All three California teams, especially Anaheim and Los Angeles, are two of the biggest, most physical teams left in the Western Conference.

It's why it was easy for loyalists of the Minnesota Wild to check the schedule and swallow hard last week after a New Year's Eve loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets snapped its franchise record 12-game winning streak. A daunting trip to California loomed. After that, a home game against Montreal and another tough road trip next weekend to Dallas and Chicago followed.

Gulp.

"I don't think we were ever worried about a letdown after the Columbus game," said Wild forward Zach Parise. "I don't think any one of us was worried how we were going to respond after getting our streak snapped. We understood that it wasn't going on forever, but I think we understood that there were still some areas, even though we were winning, that we would could be better at."

Instead, the Wild responded in style in its venture west, showing all kinds of gumption in a come-from-behind 5-4 victory at the SAP Center in San Jose on Thursday to start the trip.

Trailing 3-2 at Staples Center on Saturday, Parise buried a power-play goal with under a minute remaining in regulation to tie the score at 3-3. The Wild lost in overtime, but grinded out a crucial point.

Playing the second of back-to-backs, Minnesota answered the bell in the trip finale, scoring twice in the second period to deliver coach Bruce Boudreau a 2-1 win in his return to Anaheim. 

"Tough stretch, three [games] in four [days], travel, big teams, heavy teams, teams that have had success in the past, and we know that if you want to win in the playoffs, those are teams that you're gonna have to be able to match up against," said Wild forward Jason Pominville. "It was nice to find a way to dig deep and get some points."

Two wins in three games and five out of a possible six points on the trip later, it's safe to say the Wild has responded well after the streak-snapping loss to Columbus.

Read more at Wild.com.