It has been over a decade since the Minnesota Wild claimed a playoff series in the NHL postseason. The last time was a 4-2 series victory over the St. Louis Blues in 2015. Since that season, it has been a first round exit in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and a loss in a qualifying round in 2020. They’ve been there, but it has been enough time since their last success that fans are ready for more than just a one-and-done trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 2025-26 regular season for Minnesota was somewhat simple. They essentially sat in third place of the Central for a majority of the season, a couple times jumping into second swapping spots with their now playoff foe, the Dallas Stars. No one would be able to catch one of, if not the best teams in the NHL in the Colorado Avalanche who stretched out their first place lead to an unattainable mark finishing with 121 points (the most by any team in the league, next closest would be the Carolina Hurricanes who finished with 113). Trailing the Wild were the Utah Mammoth who finished 12 points behind Minnesota. The Wild and their fanbase knew for some time they were playoff bound, ignoring that recurring sense of doom that it all might blow up right in front of them as has happened with other Minnesota organizations.
Going into the postseason, on paper it seemed that the Wild would be fighting an uphill battle having to go on the road to Dallas and play a franchise who has been to the conference finals for three consecutive seasons. However, in a strange way the Wild almost seemed to have all of the invisible and underlying factors on their side. Home teams in the postseason always seem to play with a little more pressure than their counterpart. Playing in front of their home crowd that almost always expect a win can bring on an immense amount of duress. It can lead to jittery play, tight shifts and mistakes that haven’t been seen all year.
In game one, the Wild exposed that pressure with a dominant 6-1 victory, making a statement to kick off the series. It was not a slow drip either with the Wild scoring half of their goals in the span of 5:32. There were no question marks, no game-winning goals called back after celebration due to a razor-thin offsides call like we saw in last night’s Ottawa versus Carolina 2OT thriller. No, that was a persuasive and dominant opening game that set the tone for the series.
Game two went a little different, a bad bounce put the Wild behind early 1-0 in the first period. The Wild would tie it up in the same period, but the Stars were able to jump out in front 2-1, then 3-1 before going on to win 4-2. Now, the series is knotted up at one game apiece, but is viewed by both teams in very different lights.
The Stars had to feel like their backs were (and ultimately still are) against the proverbial wall. If they fell down 0-2 before going on the road, it would be a monumental task to carve back into the series. Dallas is likely taking a deep sigh of relief that they are not staring down the barrel of winning four games in six contests. However, the pressure is surely still present. Not to mention the fact that they have been on the doorstep of the Finals for three straight years now, but have come up empty time and time again.
In Minnesota’s case, they are sitting in the drivers seat as they head back home with an all drawn best-of-5 in front of them. The Wild now enter games three and four of this series knowing a couple things. One, they’ve got the belief that they can not only win, but can win big. They also know they have the ability to get behind Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger after combining for 8 total goals on the road in two games. And two, they have one of the top players in the league in Quinn Hughes who became a cheat code for the Wild after a trade earlier this season had him join Minnesota for their playoff push. When Hughes joined the team, he singlehandedly took one of the worst power play squads in the league and improved them to one of the top three in the NHL. Hughes is incredibly dynamic as a skater, opening up the ice immensely for his line and creating a treasure trove of scoring opportunities.
The Wild are in a near perfect situation to claim their first playoff series in over ten seasons, all they need to do is have a strong homestand. This certainly feels like a series that might take all seven, but Minnesota has set themselves up beautifully to potentially take their postseason into May.
Game three will be in Minnesota on Wednesday night, puck drop is set for 8:30 PM CT on TNT.
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