SEATTLE — There were plenty of smiles inside the visitors’ locker room at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday night, and it wasn’t just because Mats Zuccarello’s overtime winner capped a 4-1-2 road trip that pulled the Minnesota Wild into a tie with Dallas for the second-most points in the NHL.

It was also because the Wild were just 12 ½ hours from boarding their charter flight to return home for the first time since Dec. 27.

Saturday night, when the Wild host the New York Islanders to begin a three-game homestand that includes a Monday night Hughes Bros. showdown, the team will play in St. Paul for the first time in 18 days.

Remember, this isn’t just a team that’s 11-3-2 in its past 16 on the road. The Wild are also 13-1-2 in their past 16 at home.

Jesper Wallstedt, the NHL’s save percentage leader at .928, said he was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed, playing some computer games and tending goal “in front of our fans again. I look forward to that a lot.”

Even though players are treated well on the road, with scrumptious food, first-class travel, and residencies in some of the country’s poshest hotels, it still gets old being away from home and loved ones for two weeks.

Zuccarello’s wife, Marlene, is pregnant with their third child, due in less than a month, so it was particularly hard for him to be away from home this long.

He joked, “It’s in the contract, you know? No, obviously when you have kids, it’s different, but I think it’s part of the job. We just gotta make the best out of it. This day and age, we’ve got FaceTime and everything like that, so you get to see them at least.”

Marcus Foligno, whose wife, Natasha, was taking care of their three daughters, couldn’t wait to get home to his girls.

“That’s always tough. You’re always away from home, (but) they’re getting sick and tired of me on FaceTime,” Foligno said. “No one’s really been talking to me on FaceTime besides the wife.”

To lose once in regulation on the road during what could have been a season-turning seven-game trip was impressive. If those two shootout losses had gone the other way, it truly would have been an exceptional trip.

Still, what coach John Hynes loved was how the Wild responded to back-to-back losses in L.A. Despite travel issues for the umpteenth time this season getting them into Seattle in the early evening Tuesday, Wild players held a fast-paced, hard-working practice Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s game, then outplayed the Kraken dramatically in the first 40 minutes. No, they didn’t put them away by extending their 2-0 lead to three or four goals, but after a bad penalty by Yakov Trenin in the third period led to the tying goal, the Wild also didn’t pack it in.

In fact, they picked up the pieces and played at a frenetic pace for the final 10 minutes. Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes played huge minutes and players such as Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman were playing fast, physical, offensive-minded hockey and picking up the heavy load usually carried by Joel Eriksson Ek, who was hurt midway through the second period and limped out of the arena with a brace on his right leg.

In other words, this wasn’t a team on its heels after surrendering the lead to a red-hot Seattle squad.

In overtime, the Wild had the majority of the chances, and finally Faber made a sensational defensive play to create a quick counterattack between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. And just like early Thursday afternoon, when Kaprizov and Zuccarello left the ice from the team’s “morning” skate well after their teammates, the dynamic duo showed why they spend so much extra time on the ice together. Kaprizov sauced a perfectly placed leading pass for Zuccarello to get his long stick on, and Zuccarello buried it.

“Yeah, he owes me that much, I think,” Zuccarello said. “So, I was hoping (for the puck). No, I was just trying to help by, if he shoots it and scores or whatever he does, I’m fine with whatever. Fabes made a great play, breaking that up, and we got a chance to get a two-on-one. I should have probably scored before in the game, but we’re staying over anyways so might as well give (the fans) OT.”

Hynes is always one to offer praise, but you could tell after the victory just how proud he was of his group because, as he said, the road “gets to be long.”

“Even just the reset from L.A. to here, I thought they handled the two days the right way,” Hynes said. “They came to work, and most importantly, this was going to be a little bit of that mindset game. Make sure that we’re where our feet are, and I thought our guys responded and delivered tonight.”

In other words, make sure their feet were in Seattle and not proverbially back in the Twin Cities.

Now, with that said, Saturday’s game against Calder Trophy frontrunner Matthew Schaefer and company won’t be easy. The Islanders are 5-2-1 in their past eight games, and the Wild aren’t scheduled to land in the Twin Cities until Friday afternoon. Their body clocks have been on the Pacific Time zone since the wee hours of Dec. 28. They have lives to get back to. In fact, almost guarding against a hangover for the first game after a long road trip, the Wild will uncharacteristically not hold a morning skate Saturday.

“Saturday is a challenge like (Thursday), right?” Hynes said. “(Thursday) was the end of a long road trip and you go home. So, we (had to) make sure we were ready to play. We mastered that one, so the next one, I think, everyone’s excited to get home. We finished the job, but we get back (Friday) and guys can at least get reacclimated at home for an evening, but then that’s the next task. Can we master that one on Saturday? So, I’m excited to see what we do.”

Foligno isn’t worried.

“We’re playing a good Islanders team, too, that’s been clicking,” he said. “I think you look at it as a test, right? … Guys will get their rest. We’re an experienced group, and we’ll be ready for Saturday.”

The Wild want to keep a good thing going as it’s now a sprint to the Olympic break, with 13 games in the next 26 days.

The Wild are 23-5-5 (.773) since Nov. 1, ranking second in the NHL in wins and points (51) in that span. Since Nov. 1, they lead the NHL in team save percentage (.928) and rank second in goals-against average (2.15) and goal differential (plus-38). They’ve scored first in 28 games this season, tied for second in the NHL. They rank second in the NHL with 722 blocked shots and ninth with 959 hits.

This has been a well-balanced team from every aspect, and the Wild proved it yet again during the successful seven-game excursion.

Still, let’s not kid ourselves. Players are ready to get away from each other for a few hours and back to their Minnesota routines — until the next road trip a week from now.

“Sick of going out to dinner on the (road),” Faber kidded. “I think the dinners the night before games are obviously one of the best things. But sometimes you get sick of the same six or seven guys, seeing them every night at 6 o’clock. So yeah, home-cooked meal for sure.”