For the 25th time in franchise history, the Minnesota Wild failed to raise the Stanley Cup. But hey, at least this time -- the first since 2015 -- the season ended in the second round and not the first.
That's both a jab but also a slight sigh of relief. The Wild's season ended in Denver on Wednesday night in a game that offers both hope for the future but a heavy dose of harsh reality at the same time. While Minnesota managed to escape the first-round and turned in a classic series win over the hated Dallas Stars, their season ended by blowing a three-goal lead to the Avalanche.
Not exactly something to hang your hat on, even if the future is brighter than it's been in years.
It's hard to feel great in the immediate aftermath of that kind of loss. Minnesota scored less than a minute into its must-win game against the Avs, and proceeded to tack on two more goals before the first period was over. That's where the gravy train stopped -- and promptly went off the rails.
Colorado scored four unanswered goals to dagger the Wild and end Minnesota's season. It's almost fitting; generational meltdowns are the greatest natural resource the state has had since iron ore and Prince. It's an epic collapse that shouldn't sit well with anyone, but perhaps that's the beginning of seeing some silver lining. Nobody in the locker room will like the taste of what happened, and we've seen enough talent from the roster to suggest that it'll serve as motivation next season as the team gets even better than it is now.
The Wild was leading for roughly 55 minutes and was on the verge of forcing a Game 6 at home in St. Paul. It took less than three minutes for that to all fall apart and the season to come to a stunning end.
In no universe should the Wild have lost that game after leading 3-1 after two periods. Unfortunately for fans in the State of Hockey, this is the only timeline in which that happened.
Look at it this way: any team that blows a three-goal lead by allowing two goals in the final two minutes of a must-win game simply doesn't deserve to win. The Wild winning Game 5 would have been nice, but they were outmatched and outclassed by an Avs team that is an absolute wagon, and winning would be pure luck.
This is a team that came back from a 3-0 deficiet in Game 1 to lead 5-4 before still losing. The Wild scored six goals in that game and still ended up losing by three -- we should have seen this end result coming.
But unlike some of the other pain Minnesota Sports has put fans through, there's more light at the end of the tunnel than we'd all like to admit right now. The shadow of the Game 5 loss is dark, but it shouldn't block out the rays of hope that are no doubt shining in Minnesota.
The first order of business is re-signing Quinn Hughes. He's unlikely to sign a long-term deal, but if the Wild can get Hughes under contract for the rest of the decade then that buys them serious time and opens the Stanley Cup window up wide enough for them to crawl through.
Doing so will require more moves, which is the next order of business. Bill Guerin might win GM of the Year for the moves he made putting together a team talented enough to make the franchise's deepest playoff run since 2015, and he had a Gold Medal in his back pocket to suggest he knows what he's doing. Guerin got a lot of gruff for his construction of Team USA's roster, but that ended up paying off in gold, and the Quinn Hughes trade resulted in a series win over Dallas.
Without Hughes, the Wild probably don't end up with the No. 3 seed, let alone beating Dallas. Hughes showed up in a big way down the stretch and was key in beating the Stars; it's crystal clear that he's the x-factor the Wild need. He makes everyone on the ice better -- notably Brock Faber -- and adding even more talent to a roster he's on is a no-brainer.
Who that big piece ends up being is the big question Wild fans will be waiting all summer to hear about. Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, and potential Jack Hughes are all potential trade targets, and you just know Billy G is going to be big game hunting this offseason.
Right not the loss to Colorado stings, mostly because of the way the Wild lost Game 5. Blowing a three goal lead if a heck of a bummer way to enter the offseason, but that shouldn't distract from how close Minnesota is to being better than we've seen the team be in years. A lot still needs to happen, but it's hard to look at this path ahead with the same bleary and teary eyes we have in years past.
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