The Wild will face Vegas in the first round as they return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
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The journey here didn’t have to be this tough.
Had the Wild stayed on the trajectory that lifted them to one of the best starts in franchise history and atop the NHL into mid-December while Kirill Kaprizov was the early MVP favorite, they would have reached their destination much sooner.
Instead, they were gutted by injuries — most noticeably Kaprizov’s — and their play dipped, the Wild’s patchwork response admirable but not always successful.
In a season whose mantra has been “choose your hard,” the inspiration behind the team’s postgame chain that gets passed around after victories, the Wild didn’t choose this for themselves.
But nonetheless, they persisted.
They succeeded and stumbled, toiling through the tunnel vision that blocked out the trials and tribulations.
And when it was time to look up, they still arrived where they intended, making it back to the playoffs.
After rallying 3-2 in overtime during their regular-season finale Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center, the Wild finally booked their return after a one-year hiatus and locked in a first-round matchup vs. Vegas, where they’ll be the underdog to extend the redemption story that isn’t over yet. It will be the Wild’s 11th postseason appearance in the past 13 seasons.
Winger Matt Boldy scored with 18 seconds left in 3-on-3 action after center Joel Eriksson Ek buried his own rebound with 22 seconds left in the third period to guarantee the Wild (45-30-7) the point they needed to secure the first wild card in the Western Conference on their own accord (with 97 points) rather than needing the Blues or Flames to lose.
Marcus Johansson opened the scoring at 9:47 into the first period, accepting a Mats Zuccarello feed and skating to the inside for a wrister that sailed by Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal, who finished with 37 saves.
The Ducks answered back 4:01 later when Alex Killorn got on the end of a bouncing puck in front, and that stalemate held until Sam Colangelo backhanded in a 2-on-1 pass 8:45 into the third. Filip Gustavsson had 22 stops before Marc-Andre Fleury – in potentially the last appearance of his NHL career – took over for overtime and had five saves. The Wild went 0-for-2 on the power play while Anaheim was 0-for-1 after blanking in overtime.
As if the Wild not clinching until their last game wasn’t symbolic enough for how roundabout their season has been, their health doubled down on that fact.
This was the first time the Wild had everyone available since Nov. 10. The following 66 games became the real-life version of Whack-a-Mole: When someone would heal, someone else would get hurt.
It’s easier to identity who didn’t get injured. Boldy, Frederick Gaudreau and Marco Rossi are the only players to appear in all 82 games, while Jonas Brodin, Jake Middleton, captain Jared Spurgeon, Eriksson Ek and Zuccarello all had significant absences.
But no injury stung the Wild more than Kaprizov’s, the superstar’s lower-body injury sabotaging his MVP candidacy and dropping the Wild into gut-check territory in January when Kaprizov was shut down for surgery.
They stayed afloat initially but once Eriksson Ek was out, too, their margin of error shrunk, and the Wild struggled to outscore their mistakes — as few as they might be.
A goal shortage is what ultimately ate away at their lead in the standings, sinking them into a wild-card race that came down to the wire even with Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek back.
They returned for the final four games, combining for seven goals and two assists.
Middleton and Spurgeon also suited up Tuesday after their latest injuries, with Middleton missing four games after getting boarded April 4 vs. the New York Islanders and Spurgeon getting hit in the neck last Friday against Calgary and sitting out Saturday at Vancouver.
Spurgeon clarified it was an elbow, not a puck, that caught him in the neck.
“Everything started to spin, and balance was sort of gone and stuff was starting to blur,” he said. “So, obviously a little panic for a bit there, not really sure what’s going on. I’m just happy with the way it’s recovered.”
Not only are the Wild finally at full strength, but they have Zeev Buium on standby.
The defenseman didn’t make his NHL debut in the finale after leaving the University of Denver and signing with the Wild, a decision indicative of what was at stake for the Wild but also giving Buium more time to adjust to a team that has more hockey to play after adding another nail-biting effort to their already gutsy run.
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