Zuccarello still playing for fun with Wild on brink of elimination

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mats Zuccarello still feels the tingles going through his body when he walks out of the dressing room, down the tunnel and steps onto the ice before every game.

"I feel like when you're nervous, at least for me, that means it actually means something to you," Zuccarello said. "If you go into a game like this and you don't care, you don't have that passion, then maybe it's time to hang 'em up because it doesn't mean anything to you. I still have that tingly feeling walking out. For me, at least, that tells me it still means something."

Zuccarello is 38 years old. He has played 963 regular-season games, 109 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He's in the last season of a two-year, $8.25 million contract. But it's not all about the chase for the elusive Stanley Cup championship and it's certainly not the push to reach 1,000 games that drives him, gives him that feeling and has him wanting another contract.

He's still going strong with the Minnesota Wild because it's fun.

"You play for fun," Zuccarello said. "Obviously, I went to the (Stanley Cup) Final (with the New York Rangers) 12 years ago and I think back then you were younger and you thought, 'OK, I'll get another chance at it.' But it goes fast and 12 years later you haven't been back, so take advantage of the opportunities you have.

"At least I would tell young Mats that. I still enjoy it. I don't feel like I'm 38. I feel like I'm younger. I feel good."

Minnesota needs the best and most fun version of Zuccarello right now.

The Wild are down 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Second Round and must win Game 5 of the best-of-7 series at Ball Arena on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC) to extend their season.

This is one of those times, and they happen a lot for the Wild, when Zuccarello's impact off the ice has to match his performance on it and when they're so thankful they have him on their side.

"When he's here, he has fun, but he's also not like a flippant guy," coach John Hynes said. "He enjoys everything about the game, but he's very intelligent. He can lighten the mood, but also when it's time to work, he works. I think that's a really good thing for a lot of young guys. It's not that you need to be intense all the time, you've got to be intense at the right moments. There's time to have fun but there's also time where you've got to button in and work whether it's in the video room, practice or the games. I think he has a good combination of that."

Zuccarello is clearly an impact player on the ice.

He has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in seven games this postseason, including assists on four of Minnesota's seven power-play goals.

He missed Games 2, 3 and 4 against the Dallas Stars in the first round because of an injury. The Wild lost two of the three, going 1-for-15 on the power play. They are 6-for-22 in the seven games Zuccarello has played.

"He reads the game really good and he's such a nice passer," forward Kirill Kaprizov said. "He's staying there and say the other four guys are skating, he just sees everything happen in the middle and on the other side. We skate more and he will find you all the time."

Zuccarello brushes aside the impact he has on the Wild off the ice, saying "it's humbling if someone said I've helped them, but I honestly feel most of these guys would be where they are with or without me."

Kaprizov isn't so sure of that.

He's confident in himself and as a player, but part of that comes from the push he gets from Zuccarello, who has helped him become a superstar in the NHL, confident and fully immersed, ready to start a record eight-year, $136 million contract next season.

"He's my best friend here," Kaprizov said of Zuccarello.

Kaprizov's love and appreciation for Zuccarello is so strong it's as if he would negotiate Zuccarello's next contract for him just to make sure he stays in Minnesota.

"For me, it's so fun to play with him and all the time together from Day 1," Kaprizov said. "We just find this chemistry right away on the ice and off the ice. He always helps me so much. He always pushes me, tells me what I need to do, because he knows me pretty well and he knows what I'm feeling."

Zuccarello isn't ready to talk about his future, not with Game 5 to play and the Wild hoping to force a Game 6 back home Friday, but it's clear where he stands.

"I feel like I have some more years in me," he said. "Contracts and everything like that, it's not up to me always, so let's take this series, hopefully the next one, and see how far we can go here before you even start thinking about that. But I feel good. It's still fun. The day you lose the fun than there's no reason to play anymore."

It also sounds like Zuccarello only wants to play in Minnesota.

"I go to my soccer days, my favorite soccer player was Francesco Totti and he played for Rome his whole career," Zuccarello said. "He could have went to Real Madrid, but I think I'm that kind of guy that it means more to know all the people around me.

"I think that's the kind of person I am. I like to be comfortable."

And loyal.

"We talk about it in sports, you're not loyal, you go there, you go here," Zuccarello said. "It's hard to be because like in New York, you thought you're a core guy, you take less to stay, and they ship you out in a second. Obviously, it's heartbreaking. That's the part of growing up and learning the business, but I always like to be a loyal guy, and I like to think winning in a place where you really like the people and are part of the bigger community is more special to me.

"That's my thought process right now. I don't know what's going to happen, but I think right now we're in a good spot. We've got a big game to play. We can chat about this after the season, a big, long chat."