The Wild dashed the hopes that defenseman Zeev Buium, 19, would make his pro debut, but they threw a house party in a 3-2 OT win over Anaheim.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
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If the NHL had fun police, the Wild would have been cuffed and stuffed Tuesday morning.
They waited until later in the day to throw an impromptu house party when things looked downright dreary.
The team poured a bucket of cold water on the hype and hope that 19-year-old defenseman Zeev Buium would make his professional debut in the regular-season finale against Anaheim at Xcel Energy Center.
Wild fans were pumped to watch the 12th overall draft pick last summer take his rookie lap before warmups and then unleash his much-celebrated offensive skill. They cleared their throats for an adoring “Booooo!” serenade every time he touched the puck as a cool acknowledgement of the pronunciation of his last name.
Instead, the masses were left to simply boo the decision to postpone his official welcome until, presumably, the playoffs.
Frustration turned to euphoria in a blink.
Joel Eriksson Ek’s game-tying goal with 22 seconds left in regulation ensured the Wild wouldn’t need help from other teams to back their way into the playoffs.
Xcel Energy Center erupted knowing that goal secured the final necessary point in the standings to send the Wild back to the postseason.
The fun was just getting started.
Marc-Andre Fleury relieved Filip Gustavsson in goal in overtime, causing another thunderous roar and chants of “Fleury! Fleury! Fluery!”
The future Hall of Famer treated fans to a series of saves without so much as a warmup. Matt Boldy slammed the door with a game-winner with 17.9 seconds left, sealing a 3-2 win.
Buium became a footnote in the elation.
“It’s not an easy decision,” coach John Hynes said in announcing his decision on Buium. “It’s not a light-hearted decision. We believe it’s well thought out with the combination of circumstances – what’s best for the team and what’s best for the player. Everybody is on the same page with that. Management, coaches, player, agent.”
The news was a bummer, but the reasoning defensible, given that Buium hasn’t even gone through a practice since joining the team and, in his own words, endured a “whirlwind” of major events the past week. And, of course, there was that other pesky matter.
The Wild still hadn’t clinched a playoff spot entering the finale.
The organization’s decision almost assuredly hinged on the fact that the Wild left themselves the slimmest margin of error coming down the stretch.
If they had handled business differently, a playoff spot would have been banked and the final game would not have been a tense affair. Not much about this season has been easy or gone as planned.
Protracted injuries to cornerstone players derailed a fabulous start that made the rest of the league take notice. The Wild finished the first third of the season with the NHL’s most points, an MVP candidate (Kirill Kaprizov), the league’s stingiest goalie (Gustavsson) and a lineup that played a fast and entertaining style of play.
“Everything is good when you’re winning,” general manager Bill Guerin said in a quiet moment during a December win.
Sustaining that blistering pace was never realistic and certainly not when injuries crashed down like waves. The Wild were holding on for dear life while Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon and Jake Middleton recovered from injuries that overlapped.
The roster is finally healthy and intact again. The question to be answered is whether their full complement of players can re-ignite the fire they showed when everything clicked.
Being healthy doesn’t guarantee being dialed in. The Wild only have a few days to pull it all together and feel confident in their game. Winning in such dramatic fashion could give them a jolt.
Kaprizov gives them a bona fide scoring threat and elite playmaker, but they will need everyone to elevate their level of play.
The season became so disjointed because of injury absences that is hard to know what to make of the Wild entering the playoffs. They will certainly be underdogs against Vegas.
Ideally, the Wild would have given themselves some breathing room to play a few pressure-less games in the final week as a tune-up and to regain some chemistry with players returning to the lineup. They squandered those chances and had to fight to the very end just to secure a spot.
They can take a moment to exhale now after a stressful finish to a regular season that was quite taxing. The playoffs represent a reset. The Wild should feel encouraged knowing they already have navigated and survived a hard, complicated road to get there.
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