The Wild's all-time playoff record is not pretty, to say the least.
Can the resilient Wild conjure up more Game 6 magic?
A franchise that hasn't had a lot of postseason success has found it late in series at times.
May 11, 2022 at 11:19PM
After the Game 5 loss to St. Louis, Minnesota is 32-57 in the postseason. That's a .360 winning percentage, which probably explains the "here we go again" energy that appeared in the stands at Xcel Energy Center during the third period Tuesday.
Given the stark landscape of those overall numbers, though, it might surprise you to know that the Wild historically gets better as a series gets deeper. If Minnesota can only get past Game 5, that's when the magic seems to happen.
The Wild is 5-3 all time in Game 6, which has led into a 3-1 record in Game 7. To win this series, of course, it will need to build on that success — something I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
As an antidote to what happened Tuesday, here is a look back at those five Game 6 Wild victories:
April 21, 2003: The Wild trailed the heavily favored Avalanche three games to two and had surrendered two late goals in Game 6 at Xcel Energy Center to even the score at 2-2.
In the extra session, Richard Park scored his second goal of the game, beating Patrick Roy with a seemingly harmless shot. The Wild, of course, went on to win Game 7 in dramatic fashion as well.
May 7, 2003: Only a couple weeks later, the Wild was back in an identical spot. This time, Game 6 had far less drama. Minnesota scored three power-play goals on the way to a comfortable 5-1 home victory over Vancouver in Game 6, leading again to a Game 7 win.
April 28, 2014: Zach Parise scored a huge goal with less than seven minutes left in regulation to break a 2-2 tie and send the Wild on the way to a 5-2 victory over Colorado in Game 6 of that series. Two nights later, the Wild finished off the series with an overtime win.
April 26, 2015: The last time the Wild won a playoff series (ouch) came against the same Blues team it is trying to dispatch this time. Two goals from Parise led the way to a 4-1 victory and a six-game series win.
May 26, 2021: Only last year, the Wild won 3-0 score to force a Game 7 against Vegas. Winning goalie with the shutout for the Wild? Cam Talbot. Losing goalie for Vegas? Marc-Andre Fleury.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
