Wild's playoff failures would look worse — except for Timberwolves' dismal efforts

Congratulations are in order for Joe O'Donnell, the Wild's radio play-by-play broadcaster and the replacement for Bob Kurtz, who retired after his illustrious career.

Not only does O'Donnell do a fine job of tracking the puck for his radio audience, but he is pure of soul in describing his team's history of achievement, whether on purpose or by accident.

The Wild outplayed Vegas for most of Monday night in St. Paul. Sadly, the Golden Knights pulled their goalie and scored a tying goal with 35 seconds remaining in regulation.

There was a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime and then the Golden Knights had a 3-2 advantage in the five-round shootout, to add two points to their first-place total (103) in the Western Conference.

Disappointing, but O'Donnell made it clear the Wild (98 points) had guaranteed the franchise's "12^th playoff appearance'' when Dallas' 5-1 victory over Nashville became official.

Thank you, Joe, for going with 12, because that meant you were not recognizing the phony-baloney 2019-20 postseason, when the NHL dealt with COVID-19 by holding a late summer tournament in which 24 of 31 teams were included.

The NHL announced there would be a qualifying round to create the 16-team playoff field. The Wild lost in embarrassing fashion, 3-1 in games to Vancouver.

Later, the NHL declared teams were allowed to classify it as a playoff season even if they lost in the qualifier. The Wild, proud franchise that this is, should not stoop so low as to make that claim.

Thus, the Wild's 12 true playoff seasons: 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and now 2023.

They are 4-11 in series and 31-55 in games. They have had one playoff run, and that was the first time — when Jacques Lemaire's miraculous squad, "Marian and the Misfits,'' came back from 3-1 down against both Colorado and Vancouver to reach the Western Conference finals.

As you will recall, once there the Wild were swept by Anaheim and the giant goalie equipment of Jean-Sébastien Giguère, which started the team's postseason problems.

Two series wins in 2003 and only two in two decades since.

This would look awful if the Wild's competitors for attention in Minnesota's fall-to-spring pro sports seasons were not the Timberwolves.

This is the Wild's 22^nd season (2004-05 lost to the owners' lockout). This is the Timberwolves' 34^th season. They have made 10 playoff appearances, with two series wins in 2004 and nine one-and-outs.

The Timberwolves' overall playoff record is 20-38. By comparison, LeBron James has a playoff record of 174-92.

As recently as the first half last Friday against LeBron and the L.A. Lakers, there were optimistic thoughts about the Timberwolves.

All season the customers had occupied Target Center with strong numbers and enthusiasm.

Perhaps it was a carryover from the hard-nosed six-game playoff loss to Memphis in the spring. Perhaps the basketball followers couldn't believe the trade for Rudy Gobert was as lopsided in Utah's favor as it appeared and there had to be an upside.

Karl-Anthony Towns was out for 52 games with a calf injury, and a new hero — Naz Reid — emerged in that time.

Suddenly, Reid was lost to a broken wrist, and KAT's return became more vital, and for that first half vs. the Lakers it appeared a workable compromise.

The upper deck was open to full capacity, and the Wolves were cheered to a 65-55 halftime lead. Then they did what wolves do: returned to their nature. They treated the ball like an explosive device and lost 123-111.

And then Sunday, the Portland Trail Blazers arrived with a lineup that could have been the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, for all anyone knew.

When the betting line stopped moving upward, the Timberwolves were favored by 19.5 points. When the game was over, Portland had won 107-105, and betting records dating to 1995 could not find an NBA team that had lost when favored by a point spread that large.

The Woofies figure to stumble into the gimmickry of the NBA's play-in mini-tourney, and this time get bounced.

Then, the true destruction of the excessive ransom paid for Gobert by Tim Connelly, the $8 million per year basketball boss, will start to play itself out this summer — including the probable loss of Reid as a free agent.

Meantime, the Wild will get back their best player, Kirill Kaprizov, next week and that will put two explosive lines at the top of the rotation.

There's a quality to this team that says it's going to win a playoff series for the first time since 2015, and has a chance to turn it into actual run after a 20-year wait.

Wild: optimism. Timberwolves: pessimism.

Such is the custom for followers of the fall-to-spring competition on the Minnesota pro sports scene.