Long, strange trip still lands Wild in the playoffs

Nino Niederreiter described the Wild's crazy, sometimes out-of-control season as a "roller coaster."

But after 82 twist-filled games, the Wild pulled into the station Saturday night a little dizzy, slightly nauseous and somewhat exhilarated that its regular season finally came to a screeching halt in a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.

"Just a roller coaster," Niederreiter said. "A lot of loopings and tight turns, stressful drops and fast climbs. It had everything. But at the end of the day, it's tough to get into the playoffs. Obviously, we got into it in an ugly way by losing some games down the stretch and Colorado helped us out, but we're in."

The Wild's objective when the team opens Thursday against the Dallas Stars is to take some Pepto-Bismol and avoid more roller coasters the rest of the postseason.

As goalie Devan Dubnyk said Saturday, "It was a very strange season. The reason for that I don't know."

It's unexplainable really, except for the fact that this is the Wild way.

The Wild completed its most successful first half in franchise history with a Jan. 9 victory at Dallas that brought its point total to 52 — on pace to tie the franchise record with 104 points, which would have put the Wild close to battling for the top spot in the division and conference.

Then, the schedule flipped to the second half Jan. 10 and the season fell off the rails. The Wild lost 13 of its next 14 games, including eight in a row to cost coach Mike Yeo his job.

At one point, the Wild lost nine in a row at Xcel Energy Center. John Torchetti then took over as interim coach and the Wild reeled off a league-best 15-6-1 record before losing five in a row to end the regular season. The Wild's 87 points are the fewest of 160 playoff teams in the shootout era (excludes the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season).

"Every season so far since I've been here has kind of been like the same way almost," forward Charlie Coyle said. "Start off pretty good, you get over that hump, you fall into a ditch and we always pull ourselves out of it, which is great sign.

"Every team has ups and downs. Some go a little deeper than others, and we happen to go that route. But we made playoffs. We're in. Anything can happen, and that's how we have to look at it."

It seems to be in the Wild's DNA to take its foot off the gas when not challenged. Maybe that's how to explain its ability to go to Colorado on March 26, win a huge game, then follow it up with a big win over Chicago that basically put the Avalanche into a stranglehold. Once the Wild felt little pressure, it sagged again.

In a crazy way, maybe that's a reason the Wild should be optimistic. In the playoffs, it's impossible to not feel pressure.

"The playoffs are a whole other ballpark," Niederreiter said. "Every game matters so much, so that could be an advantage for us."

The Wild knows what to expect, too. It's the only team in the NHL to upset a division champion in the first round in each of the past two seasons. It'll have to make it a third time if it expects to advance again.

There's playoff experience up and down the Wild's lineup. On the current roster, only Christian Folin and Zac Dalpe never have skated in a playoff game.

Jarret Stoll leads the way with 93 playoff games and two Stanley Cups followed by Zach Parise's 89, Jason Pominville's 70, Ryan Suter's 67, injured Thomas Vanek's 63, Ryan Carter's 44 and Mikko Koivu's team-record 39.

But even the Wild's so-called young guys shouldn't be overwhelmed. Coyle, Niederreiter, Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin and Mikael Granlund have all played 23 or more playoff games.

Torchetti spent part of Friday's practice reminding Scandella of that.

"The experience is there, so we can draw from it and expect more from each other," said Torchetti, who won a Stanley Cup as Chicago's assistant in 2010 but will make his playoff head-coaching debut. "It's not like it's your first game, so expect more from your teammate and expect more from yourself."

The Wild has to get better in virtually every facet. Its power play ranked 12th, its penalty kill 27th. Its 5-on-5 scoring ranked 16th, its goals against 10th. The players' overall battle level and speed fades too much.

"We were kind of inconsistent, inconsistent a little bit in every area of our game," veteran Jason Pominville said. "But usually we find a way to rise our game in tough games. We have to do it again."

The amazingly streaky team knows it must rediscover one of its good streaks. The way to do that is to focus on how it was playing before the latest dip.

"We won some crucial games down the stretch and the simple fact is we got here and now look ahead, and I think we're a confident group," Dubnyk said.

Added Coyle, "It's been a weird year, but we know we're capable of beating anybody, and it's up to every one in here to prove it again. We have a team that beat some very good teams in the first round the last two years, and we now we have to do it again. Everyone's excited for it."