Wild eliminated from playoff contention after win against Jets

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention following their 5-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

Zach Parise scored two goals and Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves, but Minnesota (37-34-9) was eliminated later Tuesday when the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2. The Wild trail the Avalanche by five points for the second wild card from the Western Conference with two games remaining.
It's the first time Minnesota did not qualify for the playoffs in seven seasons (2011-12).
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Wild highlights]
"It's tough. We played a really good game," Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. "I mean, too little, too late in the season in general. We had a lot of chances at home to play like this, and it catches up to you, obviously. It's such a hard league and you never want your fate to be in someone else's hands or some other team's hands. It's tough."
Jacob Trouba scored for Winnipeg (46-30-4), which has lost four of its past five games and fell into a tie with the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division. Eric Comrie made 23 saves in his first NHL game of the season.
The Jets held a closed-door meeting after the game.
"We've run into some pretty good competition here down the stretch and we want to be playing our best hockey this time of year, [but] we're not quite there yet," Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said. "When it comes down to that, you want to get a team on the same page. You want to get every guy pulling on the rope in the same direction.
"It's easy to say the right things. There is always a quality to what guys are saying. Everything we talk about is really heartfelt. I think it's a good step in the right direction."
Parise gave the Wild a 1-0 lead on a rebound of Greg Pateryn's shot at 9:04 of the first period.

Parise scored again at 12:16, his 28thof the season, to make it 2-0. Victor Rask made it 3-0 with his first goal in 15 games at 18:08.
Joel Eriksson Ek gave Minnesota a 4-0 lead at 10:29 of the second period.
Trouba made it 4-1 at 16:13 with a shorthanded goal.

Foligno scored at 15:11 of the third period for the 5-1 final.
"Obviously it's not the situation we wanted to be in," Dubnyk said. "We have a lot of things to play for still. We want to fight until the very end. The only thing we could do tonight is win the hockey game.
"We also owe our fans a couple good efforts here at home. We haven't been able to provide that for most of this year. That was a good start. This is a place we love playing and we owe them a couple."

They said it

"Regardless of what happens in the next two games we're going to the playoffs, so we've been sitting on that for a little bit now. We've got to get back to work tomorrow and get a little bounce back in our step. Things haven't been bouncing easy for us. Nothing's been easy for us, but those are all excuses. Our team needs to show a little bit of resiliency, a little bit of maturity. Come to work tomorrow, get a little bit better tomorrow, and regardless of what happens in these last two games, we have to have a game that we can identify going in to the playoffs. Get a little structure back, a little excitement and some enthusiasm back in our room. Hopefully we can string a couple together and get some confidence." -- Jets captain Blake Wheeler
"I don't want to [watch the playoffs]. But reality is even Scotty Bowman - I'm not putting myself in that category - but everybody misses it. So if you miss it, you just get madder next year and you at least know what it feels like and you don't ever want that feeling again. … The good news is I'm proud the guys didn't quit. Their backs are right up against the wall, and they didn't quit and I don't anticipate them to quit on Thursday in Boston or Saturday in Dallas." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Jets forward Brandon Tanev left the game during the first period because of an upper-body injury. There was no update afterwards. … The Wild won all five games against Winnipeg by an 18-8 margin.

What's next

Jets: At the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Wild: Host the Boston Bruins on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-N, FS-WI, NESN, NHL.TV)