The fans in the State of Hockey rejoiced Saturday night as the Minnesota Wild made the playoffs for the first time since winning the Western Conference Northwest Division in 2008.
I should say, they snuck into the playoffs. In typical Minnesota fashion, the Wild didn't clinch the No. 8 spot in the 2013 Western Conference Playoffs with dominant play. It seemed it was more of the "trying not to lose" mentality that plagues teams time and time again.
But I digress. Let's just take a few moments to realize what the Wild accomplished with the 3-1 win in Colorado Saturday. They didn't get any help from other teams, so they needed to win that final game to make the dance. That's as it should be.
The Wild held a 2-1 lead in the third period, and I got nervous as the chances piled up but the goals did not. They had a long 5-on-3 opportunity with not a lot of shots. I believe it was Jason Zucker who used some great speed and got a breakaway chance, but again came up empty.
With no insurance goals, I was crossing my fingers the clock would just get to zero already. It wasn't until just a few ticks remained that Pierre-Marc Bouchard slipped in an empty-net goal to seal the deal. Then the Wild bench erupted in jubilation.
Luckily, it made up for the fact that the Wild lost at home to Calgary earlier in the week, then again Friday night in a brutal 6-1 defeat to Edmonton. I'm glad we don't have to point to those games as two reasons why the Wild players would be polishing up the golf clubs right now.
Now it's on to the next test, facing off against the No. 1-seed Chicago Blackhawks. And hey, they're good, and very deserving of their place on top. They started this lockout-shortened season with a 13-0-3 record. On the bright side, that record contains a shootout loss to the Wild. So there's that.
The Wild have seemed to play well on the road lately while they've struggled at home. Maybe that will come in handy since they will obviously not have home-ice advantage.
Another thing to remember? The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup last year. As the No. 8 seed. The odds of it happening two years in a row probably aren't the greatest, but it doesn't matter. Just like the Wild's limp into the playoffs doesn't matter. Once you're in, anything can happen.
The Wild already proved that with their awesome run in 2003. They came back from series deficits to beat Colorado and Vancouver on the road. I'll never forget Andrew Brunette's overtime goal in game 7 against Colorado. Simply amazing.
If you need at least one other positive for the Wild versus Chicago matchup, take this one: The series will be played entirely in the Central time zone. How's that for fan-friendly?
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