The Ghost of Playoffs Past Still Haunt the Wild

Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin are the only two Minnesota Wild players who’ve played in the second round of the playoffs. Every other player has never seen a second round in Minnesota. 

The Wild have players who have won it all, some more than once. However, for this Minnesota team and its fans, the second round is the mountain top, and the summit looks far away.

Minnesota has again lost a playoff series after leading, falling to 0-5 in games to go up 3-1 in a series again. They had an inept penalty kill that let them down again. They failed to overcome adversity or deliver in clutch moments, and again failed to upset a favored team.

The Wild are the first team in the four major sports history to make the playoffs more than eight times in 10 years, but lose in the first round every single time. 

Take a moment to let that sink in.

While it’s the same story as the last playoff series against the Dallas Stars two years ago, this one feels a bit different. You could argue the Wild were the better team. If not for bad breaks going Vegas’s way, they could easily be previewing a second-round matchup with the Edmonton Oilers.

But that’s hockey.

The narrative used to be that Minnesota didn’t have enough star power to overcome the top teams in the West. Still, if you had told me that the Wild would have Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy tied for the league lead in goals through six games and Mark Stone and Jack Eichel would finish the series with three combined goals, I would have guessed the Wild would have been in a pretty good spot.

If you had told me that Vegas goaltender Adin Hill was the fourth-worst goalie by goals saved above expected in these playoffs, and Filip Gustavsson was the fifth-best, I would have guessed the Wild would be in a pretty good spot.

If you had told me that the Wild held a 2-1 series lead and a 2-1 lead in the game heading into the third period, I would have guessed the Wild would have been in a pretty good spot.

Boldy, Kaprizov, and Ryan Hartman outscored every Vegas skater. Kaprizov had nine points, Boldy had seven, and Hartman had six. None of the Golden Knights’ players had more than five. 

If you had told me that at the start of the series, I would have thought the Wild would be in a great spot.

“Not fun,” Kaprizov said. “I feel we played pretty good. Better than two years ago in the (Dallas) series. It was a nice series. Tough series. I don’t think it was easy for Vegas to beat us. You can see games. It’s overtime, overtime, and 3-2 today.”

Head coach John Hynes entered the playoffs with a 4-15 record; he left with a 6-19 playoff record. However, Hynes wasn’t outcoached like past Wild bench bosses Dean Evason, Bruce Boudreau, and Mike Yeo have been. He did a fine job of coaching this team. 

While some people questioned his decision to load up the top line, it proved wise and became an X-factor for the first part of the series. Inserting Jon Merrill in for young Zeev Buium late in the series hardly mattered; their impact was marginal. However, failing to play Buium for any of the overtime in Game 4 and gassing the other defenders, who made a costly mistake? That one might be on Hynes.

Playing Marco Rossi on the fourth line with Justin Brazeau and Yakov Trenin is a good decision in a vacuum. However, when you consider who earned ice time over Rossi, the decision becomes easier to criticize.

Hynes relied on Marcus Foligno and Hartman, who provided secondary scoring all series. Unfortunately, it just was not enough to overtake Vegas. 

“It’s tough,” Foligno said, “especially when you felt like you deserve better. I think in those past ones, we didn’t. And this one, we did. 

“I mean, if you think about what we’ve done and overcame this year, and the steps we took, and the guys that took steps — big steps — we always say the future’s bright. But, I mean, I really do believe we’re right there.”

The Wild got nothing offensively from Freddy Gaudreau or Marcus Johansson. Gustav Nyquist actively derailed the Wild’s chances with a lazy effort to stay onside for a what would have been a 3-2 win in Game 5 and a 3-2 series lead. In total, these players combined for two assists both of which were Johansson’s. 

Minnesota’s fourth line was only marginally better than the third. Rossi had two goals, and Trenin and Brazeau were physical presences that made Vegas’s life hard in the defensive zone. After Game 1 of the series, the Wild should have switched Rossi with Gaudreau. But, as always, hindsight is 20/20. 

Say what you want about the referees, the Wild lost this series regardless of the officiating. Were they on the short end of the stick when it came to missed penalties and offside reviews? Yes, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that the Wild had a 72.7% penalty kill. The worst penalty kill in franchise history cost them dearly, like it did against Dallas.

Brock Faber didn’t find himself on the scoresheet but was a key cog in keeping the Wild afloat on the backend. Faber led the Wild in time on ice by nearly two minutes. He provided clutch moment after clutch moment and was a workhorse for the backend. 

Brodin and Spurgeon were also the same steady presences they’ve been since 2014. Jake Middleton had an okay series. He was responsible for a critical error that led to the game four loss. Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill made me hold my breath every time they skated onto the ice, but they were not catalysts for a Wild loss.

The Knights are a big, fast, experienced, and well-coached team that would always be hard to beat. But the way the Wild played through the first three and even four games of the series made the series feel different.

The way Kaprizov and Boldy drove winning and Hartman and Foligno supplemented them made me want to believe that this team was different. However, like in the previous series against Dallas and St. Louis, the Wild failed to deliver in the clutch when it mattered most against Vegas. The offense ran dry once again.

Please don’t drink the red and green Kool-Aid. That the Wild made a good effort and that they tried hard. 

This is the NHL playoffs! These players get paid millions of dollars to bring their team and fans a Stanley Cup. They don’t want or deserve your pity or participation trophies. We all want to see them participate in the second round of the playoffs.

Ultimately, the Wild were in a position to flip the script on Vegas and take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 at the Xcel Energy Center. In these scenarios, the team that holds a 2-1 lead wins the series 69% of the time. 

While that’s a nice stat, it ended up not mattering. The Wild lost for the fifth straight time in that scenario. With two more losses and the season over following that Game 4 fumble, the script was flipped back to the same chapter Wild fans, brass, and players alike are tired of reading.

Another season of Wild hockey, another disappointment. While this series might feel different for the Wild, ultimately, it’s the same result. Minnesota rewrote history with this series loss. It’s true this playoff series was closer and felt better than others, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

All stats and data via HockeyDB, MoneyPuck.com, Hockey Reference, Natural Stat Trick, and Evolving Hockey unless otherwise noted.