The Minnesota Wild took their season-long locker room motto of “Choose Your Hard” literally, choosing the hardest way possible to clinch a playoff berth Tuesday night in their 82nd and final game of the regular season.
After coming up empty on back-to-back power plays in the second period and hitting iron four times in the game, the Wild advanced to the playoffs by virtue of Joel Eriksson Ek’s tying goal with 22 seconds left in regulation, taking the Anaheim Ducks to overtime to earn the one standings point they needed to clinch.
Matt Boldy then scored with 20 seconds left in OT to deliver the Wild a regular-season-ending 3-2 win.
the biggest goal of the Wild’s season is an absolute beauty. Zuccarello and Boldy with great passes to set up Eriksson Ek pic.twitter.com/gLXlMBDbEw
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) April 16, 2025
The Wild finished in the top wild-card spot and will face the Pacific Division champion Vegas Golden Knights in the first round. The series is expected to start Sunday in Las Vegas. Vegas entered Tuesday’s game in Calgary with a 49-22-9 record and is 29-9-3 at home.
Marcus Johansson scored the Wild’s other goal, and Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves against the Ducks, whom the Wild had beaten 17 times in the previous 18 meetings. Minnesota has now made the playoffs 11 times in 13 years — most of any Western Conference team.
Matt Boldy with the winner pic.twitter.com/ZRVDXgtkfA
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) April 16, 2025
In overtime, with a playoff spot already secured, coach John Hynes inserted Marc-Andre Fleury for the final regular-season appearance of his career as the goalie on record.
Fleury immediately had to face a four-on-three power play, and despite coming in cold off the bench, he made five saves in overtime for his 575th and final regular-season victory and NHL-record 71st overtime win.
Members of the Ducks lined up to shake Marc-Andre Fleury’s hand, with the Minnesota crowd chanting ‘Fleury’ along the way 🌸
What a moment 👏#mnwild pic.twitter.com/MmEEf2qmuO
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 16, 2025
The Wild needed a point against Anaheim to make the playoffs, or for the St. Louis Blues or Flames to lose in any fashion.
The Blues won 6-1 against Utah and secured the final playoff spot in the West. The Flames were eliminated by virtue of Minnesota (97 points) and St. Louis (96 points) attaining the necessary points to top them in the standings.
The Wild have lost 11 of their past 13 against Vegas. They played the Golden Knights in the 2021 playoffs, losing in seven games. Minnesota hasn’t won a first-round series since 2015. The Wild led at one point in the series in each of their last four first-round exits.
After an injury-plagued season, Minnesota had to tread water for much of the past 2 1/2 months until the lifeboat came carrying Kirill Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek. The Wild won three of their final four games since their return to the lineup, with Eriksson Ek returning against San Jose last week to score four goals and Kaprizov two, including his 10th career overtime winner.
On Saturday night in Vancouver, with the Wild down 2-0, Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno scored in the third period to force overtime before Kaprizov set up Mats Zuccarello’s sixth career overtime winner.
Getting Kaprizov, a Hart Trophy front-runner when he was healthy earlier this season, and Eriksson Ek back certainly changes the complexion of a team that led the NHL in points in mid-December but struggled to score in the second half.
The Wild also got Jared Spurgeon and Jake Middleton back from injury Tuesday night, marking the first time they’ve used their full allotment of players since mid-November. They also signed 2024 first-round pick Zeev Buium of the University of Denver on Sunday, but he didn’t debut against the Ducks.
(Photo of Marcus Johansson: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
