Kurvers close to hearts, minds as Wild mounted comeback

If there was a different vibe inside Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday night during the team's home opener against the Winnipeg Jets, players and coaches inside the dressing room wouldn't disagree.
The Wild erased four deficits in the game, getting a number of fortunate bounces along the way.
Like Joel Eriksson Ek's tying goal that he whacked out of mid-air just moments after Kyle Connor was just a few inches offside, cancelling a Jets' empty-net goal that would have iced the game.

How it came free to Ek was even mysterious ... a centered puck from behind the net that deflected in the air off the shin pad of Mats Zuccarello and right towards the cage.
Or the miraculous 2-on-1 save by Wild goaltender Cam Talbot just a few seconds before Eriksson Ek finished off his hat trick with the winning goal in overtime? Talbot's stop left the puck right there for Jared Spurgeon, who quickly headmanned a pass to Kirill Kaprizov, who spearheaded his own 3-on-1 rush the other way.
There were a number of coincidences that just so happened to come to fruition in one of the craziest Wild games in recent memory, but there were believers in the room afterward that someone, somewhere, might have been nudging things along.

"Honestly, I'm a big believer that, tonight we celebrated the life of Tom Kurvers, and I think he had something to do with that," Wild forward Marcus Foligno said after the game. "A pretty emotional moment. You don't realize it until you get back in the dressing room, but when it happened on the bench I actually thought about Tom, and Ekker whacks a puck out of the air. I mean, great goal, but it's fluky and you've just got to believe that there's a guardian angel over you tonight, and Tom really had our back tonight."
Tweet from @mnwild: TK was watching over us last night. 💚 pic.twitter.com/vZ71NZehpr
Kurvers, the Wild's Assistant GM when he passed away in June after a lengthy battle with lung cancer, was honored with an emotional video tribute before the game, as people from all corners of the hockey world shared their thoughts and memories of the revered former Bloomington Jefferson Jaguar, Minnesota Duluth Bulldog and longtime NHLer.
Kurvers' death touched countless people in the game, from scouts and front-office personnel to players, coaches and broadcasters. Kurvers, at one point or another during his career, had his hands in all of those different areas.

"He'd be excited about that hockey game for sure. Hopefully he's happy with that one," Wild coach Dean Evason said afterward, his eyes welling with emotion. "What a great man obviously and touched us all."
While the Wild overcame a number of circumstances on Tuesday night in earning that win, having a full crowd on their side ... and perhaps someone looking over them on the night he was honored ... may have also played a small role.

Kurvers' memory certainly wasn't far from the minds of many in the locker room.
"I think that was a really special moment for us, and Deano said the whole thing in the dressing room after too about Tom. That's the way we felt all night," Foligno said. "We had someone watching us and then pushing us, and although we felt like, yeah, we were down in the game at some points, we always knew we could get back and win."