What It Takes To Win: Bogosian, Sturm and Tarasenko have the experience of going the distance in the playoffs

In a recent game, a two-goal lead evaporated when the Minnesota Wild allowed two third-period goals, including one with 1 minute, 13 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, against the Panthers March 26 in Florida. The ending seemed destined for yet another overtime finish. 

Joel Eriksson Ek didn't let that happen. 

After an offensive-zone faceoff in the final 15 seconds of the third period, the gritty center pounced on the rebound off Brock Faber's point shot, scoring with a wrist shot as he fell to the ice with officially only five seconds remaining in regulation. Wild win, 3-2. 

"I don't really think I was thinking too much there," Eriksson Ek said after the game. "Just tried to shoot."

Per NHL Stats, his shot for his 18th goal of the season was the latest go-ahead goal in Wild history, beating the previous mark of a goal Marcus Foligno scored with eight seconds left in regulation on Oct. 15, 2021. 

That goal and victory was one of the more exciting ways the Wild have found to win a hockey game this season. Whether it’s late in regulation, in a lot of extra-time games, behind solid goaltending or scoring depth, the Wild have shown they can win in a variety of ways this season. 

When it comes to the upcoming postseason, they also have three players on their roster who’ve gone the distance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

So, what does it take to win? Wild center Nico Sturm pondered that question for a moment. 

“A lot of things,” Sturm said. “I certainly don’t think it’s one thing.” 

Sturm talked through the lineup of positions, knowing how important it is to have a really solid goaltender, or sometimes two of them. The Wild appears to have that with the duo of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt. Depth-wise, Sturm added that it’s almost a guarantee a team will need every player contributing at some point, whether they’re playing in every game or stepping in when the inevitable injuries crop up and shuffle lineups. 

Sturm has a pair of Stanley Cup championships, the first with Colorado in 2022 and then again with the Florida Panthers last season after he was traded by the San Jose Sharks in March. It’s hard to teach some of the lessons learned from a lengthy playoff run, Sturm acknowledged.

“I think it’s just something that you have to go through,” Sturm said. “I remember my first run with Colorado. I had trouble sleeping the whole run. I was just anxious and nervous about every game. And the off days were the worst. I just wanted the next game to come around, so I wasn’t sleeping for two months, which was terrible.

“In Florida, I was able to handle it a lot better because I know I had been through it.” 

Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian has been through it, too. He won a Stanley Cup in 2020 when he signed with the Tampa Bay Lighting in February after Buffalo placed him on waivers. His first postseason experience turned into him suiting up for 20 games and recording four assists as the Lightning won their first of back-to-back championships.

“It’s a long road, but we have to play with good habits and play a good team game,” Bogosian said. “Everyone has to play their role to the best of their abilities, I think is super important.

“Everyone wants to be the OT hero or the goal-scoring hero, but it takes a lot of the little things throughout the lineup that kind of build up to that one person that scores. Just doing the little things I think is the most important thing.” 

Vladimir Tarasenko agrees with the preparation being a game-by-game mindset, focusing on beating one opponent before thinking about reaching that next step. 

“Because it’s a lot of noise, a lot of outside noise, a lot of pressure, and if you think too far away, you kind of can lose the momentum,” Tarasenko said. “You just focus on each game individually and go from there.” 

The veteran winger won it all with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and with the Florida in 2024 after the Panthers acquired him in a March trade. He scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Final. He spent last season with Detroit before the Wild acquired him in a trade last summer.

Tarasenko is approaching 900 career regular-season NHL games and is one of the Wild’s top goal scorers this season. His overtime winner against Dallas on March 21 gave him his third 20-goal season in the past seven seasons and ninth overall. 

He knows about the preparation it takes to focus on not only his team’s ability to play in the playoffs but learning how opponents play and to make adjustments accordingly when facing the same team potentially seven times in a row. 

“I think the most important part is how well you’re able to react when things don’t go well,” Tarasenko said. “Change your mindset sometimes. There are some devastating losses. How quickly you can recover.” 

In addition to the right personnel on the team, as Sturm spoke about, a good playoff run also requires a strong special-teams game, with the power play and penalty kill needing to be solid. Sometimes it’ll take the power play to step up and score when 5-on-5 goals are at a premium, or maybe the penalty kill needs to lock it down when the team ends up taking five or six penalties in a game. 

“Ideally, you want one of them to be outstanding,” Sturm said. “There’s going to be a game where either special teams is going to need to win you a game.” 

The Wild’s power play is ranked in the top five of NHL teams with a middle-of-the-pack, yet much-improved from last season, penalty kill. 

In games down the stretch of the regular season before and after the Wild officially clinch a spot in the playoffs, coach John Hynes wants to see a strong structure and attention to details in individual and the team game, “playing to the identity that gives us a chance to be a difficult team to play against,” he said. 

“When we’re executing coming out of our end, we’re playing fast up the ice,” Hynes added. “We’re able to make good puck decisions, where if we have time and space, we can attack off the rush and put teams in trouble that way.

“But then also a big part of our team game is that puck-pursuit game, puck-pressure game in the offensive zone.” 

Once the playoffs hit, that preparation is heightened when it comes to intensity and focus, according to Bogosian. 

“Everything is just another level, it’s a different speed,” Bogosian said. 

When everything all comes together, the sacrifices and preparation made by teammates to achieve the common goal of winning the hardest trophy to win in sports, the feeling of winning can’t be replicated, he added. 

“Guys will experience a lot of different things throughout their life and their career,” Bogosian said. “That’s just an experience in itself.”