Round 2 Playoff Preview

Grand Casino Arena was rocking at the start of Game 6 against the Dallas Stars. When Quinn Hughes scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, the noise level ramped up even more. 

By the time Matt Boldy scored a pair of empty-netters and the seconds ticked down to zero, the arena was in a frenzy of playoff euphoria that Minnesota Wild fans hadn’t experienced for 11 years. 

The team is moving on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

“Obviously, this is massive for us, for the organization and for our fan base,” said goaltender Jesper Wallstedt. “We’ve just got to keep going. We know what the capabilities are within our team. We’re excited to go play Colorado.” 

Athletes will often say that to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said it after clinching the first-round series with a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars to win the series four games to two. The Wild have already taken care of a team ahead of them in the standings in the Stars. 

The next task is to face the league’s best team in the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the playoffs.  

“The best thing about having this sweet taste of victory is you want more of it,” Marcus Foligno said. “It’s such a great feeling.

“We’re excited for Round 2.”

Colorado and Minnesota split the regular-season series, with each team winning a shootout on home ice. The Wild won a shootout at home on Nov. 28 and won 5-2 on the road on Feb. 26. Colorado took a 5-1 decision in St. Paul on Dec. 21 and a shootout victory when the teams last met on March 8.

Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Boldy all had two-goal games against Colorado during the regular season. 

Avalanche center Martin Necas was second on the team in goals during the season, and he scored three of his 38 against the Wild. Nathan MacKinnon scored four against the Wild, plus the deciding goal in Colorado's shootout win on March 8. Wallstedt started three of the four games.

“We’ve played Colorado well this whole season in the four times we played them,” Wallstedt said. “We know it’s both really good teams. I’m very excited to play them again.” 

The rookie Wallstedt started all six games of Round 1 for the Wild, coming up clutch and finishing with four wins, a .924 save percentage and 2.05 goals-against average.

After Wallstedt and the Wild defeated Dallas, Foligno said they’d enjoy the victory that night before preparing for Colorado. They’ll look to see what they can do “to be defensively good against them but also exploit them,” he added.

“It’s going to be another big battle,” Foligno said. “We’re mentally ready for it.” 

The Avalanche and Wild have met three times in the playoffs, going all the way back to the Wild’s first playoff run in 2003. The Wild are 2-1 in those series, winning twice in overtime of Game 7s on the road. 

In 2003, Andrew Brunette famously scored the overtime winner against goaltender Patrick Roy in Game 7 of the first-round series to give the Wild its first-ever playoff series victory and propelling the franchise to its deepest playoff run to date. 

The Wild were the higher seed when the teams met again in the first round in 2008. The first three games were decided in overtime, with the Wild taking a 2-1 series lead before falling to the Avs in six games. 

When the Wild clinched the series against the Stars this spring, it was 12 years to the day that the Wild defeated the Avalanche in seven games in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. That victory came on the road with Nino Niederreiter’s overtime winner, after Jared Spurgeon tied the game with 2:27 left in regulation. 

The last time the Wild made it to the second round of the playoffs was the next season, with a round-one win over the St. Louis Blues in 2015. Current Wild defensemen Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin are the only current players remaining from those 2014 and 2015 playoff rosters. 

They’ve been with the franchise through all the ups and downs of trying to make it past the first round of the playoffs. 

“You go through it, and throughout your career realize how hard it is to do,” Spurgeon said. “We’re not taking it for granted.”

While the Wild and the Stars played a highly competitive, physical six-game series this April, Colorado took care of business with its first-round sweep of Los Angeles. Colorado had a pair of 2-1 victories, including Game 2 in overtime, before 4-2 and 5-1 road victories to clinch the series on April 26. 

They’ll undoubtedly hope rest, having played two fewer games than the Wild, in between rounds is to their advantage. 

Colorado powered through its first playoff opponent with a solid defensive effort, continuing its playbook from the regular season when it allowed just 2.40 goals per game, a league-best mark. They allowed only five goals in the series as goaltender Scott Wedgewood recorded a .950 save percentage and 1.21 goals-against average.  

They also used their scoring depth, getting goals from eight different players. Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehknonen and MacKinnon led the way with two goals and two assists apiece. Stud defenseman Cale Makar also scored a pair of goals. 

“They were the best team in the league,” Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said. “It’s going to be a really hard series. They’ve got some ultra-competitive guys, too. I just think it’s a great challenge for us.

“We’re going to be looking forward to it.”

The Wild have their own strengths to bring to the second round. Defense? Absolutely. Just look at their performance in Dallas for Game 5 to see how well they shut down the Stars. It starts with Hughes and Brock Faber being strong at the blue line and willing to jump into the plays offensively, too. 

Boldy heads into the second round with a career-high six goals in the playoffs, doubling his total from three previous series. His nine points were tied with Kaprizov and two others for second in the NHL playoffs this spring. Hughes comes into the series with the most points in a series by a Wild defenseman (2-6=8).

It’ll be a new series against a new opponent, but the Wild pleased with how they closed out the first-round series. Although the penalty kill struggled to shut down the Dallas power play throughout the series, the Wild outplayed the Stars at 5-on-5 for a majority of the games. 

Coach John Hynes was particularly pleased with the shot blocking and defensive commitment from his players in games 5 and 6. 

“There’s a lot of things that you can draw on with the identity of the team and how we play,” Hynes said. “There’ll probably be some different nuances with Colorado. But I think in general, as you continue to move forward, it starts with the guys’ commitment to play the way that they have played throughout the series.” 

Hughes’ defensive partner, Faber, said they know what they need to do against Colorado. They’re excited and ready for the next round. Beating Dallas was already drifting into the rearview mirror not long after the series victory. 

“It’s on to Colorado, and that is our focus,” Faber said.