Penguins, Wild honor Make-A-Wish child

Bryan Rust took the Pittsburgh Penguins player of the game helmet off the top of the locker stall.

"There was a lot of really good games here," he said. "[Tristan Jarry] was great. [Ryan Shea] was great. But this one goes to you."

With that, Rust handed the helmet to 10-year-old Weston Paszkiewicz, who earlier in the day had signed a one-day contract with the Minnesota Wild, with general manager Bill Guerin handing over a pen to put ink to paper to make it official. It was all part of a day put together by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Paszkiewicz, who was diagnosed with Leukemia in January, spent the morning in the Wild locker room, where he had his own stall and jersey, as part of the newly inked deal. He then took the ice in a No. 83 jersey, with the chance to get on the ice and score some goals with the Wild, accompanied by cheers and stick taps from the players.

"It put perspective on what you're going through and what it is," Wild coach John Hynes said. "I mean, we're doing something we love. We're coaching a game we love. We're playing a game we love. Yes, there's highs and lows in what you do, but you have the opportunity to come out and make someone's day.

"A kid like him, that's great. He's fighting for his life and he's in a real tough situation. You see the support that his family has, and I think the guys were great with him. It's special. I think the more that you can do that and probably the impact that it has on him, to see him score a goal, the smile on his face as he's coming out, playing with NHL players is awesome."

But that was far from his whole day.

After the game, which was won 4-1 by the Penguins, Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse gave his postgame talk – "It was a good team win, another good step," he said -- before introducing Paszkiewicz to the room.

That was when Rust handed him the helmet and Weston's father John removed his hat to place it on his head as the player of the game to cheers, claps, and fist bumps.

"I just want to say thank you for taking a minute to make him feel special, to include him and the hockey community is amazing," John said. "It's incredible, so I just want to thank you so much."

Before the game, Weston helped former Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury pull some pranks on forward Kirill Kaprizov. The two taped up all of his shoes and cut holes in his socks.