Wild's Wes Walz: On Game 7 pressure, memories of 2003 and more

Former Wild forward Wes Walz, now an analyst for the team's Bally Sports North broadcasts, normally believes that momentum is something that is earned during the course of a hockey game instead of something transferred throughout the course of a playoff series.

The ability to forget the past — and do it quickly — is the hallmark of a professional athlete, Walz said. Cliches about taking things one game at a time are really the only way to survive both the relentlessness of a season (or a postseason) and to escape the prison of self-doubt that can trap those who can't move on.

But there are exceptions to every rule. And the energy the Wild carries into Game 7 on Friday in Las Vegas qualifies as an exception.

"I think this is different. I really do," Walz said on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast. "I think when you are up 3 games to 1, especially because you've got home ice and had a chance to close out the Wild in your home building and couldn't get it done … bad thoughts start creeping into your mind. I think the pressure is all on Vegas."

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While this could be dismissed as the wishful thinking of someone who wants the Wild to win Friday, for Walz this is a twice-lived experience. He was a vital member of the 2003 Wild's playoff run, which included rallying twice from 3-1 deficits to win series in seven games over Colorado and Vancouver.

Those series both involved the Wild splitting Games 1 and 2 on the road, losing both games at home, then winning Game 5 on the road and Game 6 at home before winning game 7 on the road.

This series against Vegas has tracked the same through six games. While there are no guarantees in Game 7, this much is certain: When a team — even one that is favored and more skilled — allows itself to be taken to a seventh game, anything can happen.

In the case of the 2003 Wild, anything did happen — twice.

Against Colorado, Walz recalled the Wild being all business after Richard Park's overtime winner at Xcel Energy Center in Game 6 forced the deciding game the next night in Colorado. He remembers the Wild playing its worst game of the series in Game 7, but staying afloat thanks to goalie Manny Fernandez — and ultimately winning on Andrew Brunette's overtime winner.

Walz compared Fernandez's performance to that of Cam Talbot in the Wild's Game 5 win in Vegas, noting that a team that is on the short end of a matchup on paper typically needs a goalie to steal one game in a series.

Walz, who admits that he wasn't initially a believer in Talbot after talking to friends in Calgary about the goalie when he signed before this season, is now fully on board with what he called a "home run" signing and singled out Talbot as the primary reason for the Wild's better-than-expected season.

"We'll talk about all the other stuff, the power play, penalty kill and make it sound as interesting as we can on the broadcast. But it all comes down to goaltending," Walz said. "If Cam Talbot doesn't steal Game 5 and play like he did in the second period, this whole thing has a different flavor. Maybe we talk about how the Wild doesn't step up in big games and loses the series 4 games to 1. … Now we're talking about the heart and resiliency of this team."

The 2003 Wild had all those traits (and solid goaltending) as well. They needed it again against Vancouver, after falling behind 2-0 on the road in Game 7.

Walz told a great story about noted series villain Todd Bertuzzi, a rugged Vancouver forward whose comments about the series not going back to Minnesota for a Game 6 had made their way to the Wild's locker room. Bertuzzi, held in check for much of the series, scored the goal in the second period that put the Canucks up 2-0 in Game 7.

"He skated by our bench and the crowd is going crazy in Vancouver. And I always sat on the far side of the bench closest to Vancouver's bench," Walz said. "Jimmy Dowd was sitting three or four people down from me. (Bertuzzi) said something about golf clubs. I don't know exactly what he said, but I heard golf clubs. You can't make it up. There's like 5 minutes left in the second period and we're down 2-0. I lean forward and I go, 'Jimmy did he say what I thought he just said?' And he just said, 'yep'. I just shook my head and said this guy doesn't get it."

The Wild, struggling to get anything going offensively at that point, pulled within 2-1 late in the second when Pascal Dupuis batted a puck out of midair past Vancouver goalie Dan Cloutier.

"He pounds it out of the air," Walz said. "And I mean pounds it, like that would have been in the gap, that would have been a three-bagger for sure. He hit it so hard."

The Wild's confidence soared. Walz scored the tying goal 8:05 into the third period into a wide open net after a puck caromed back to him on a line rush. Darby Hendrickson had the go-ahead goal with about five minutes left, and Dupuis scored a little later on a power play for the 4-2 final score.

It was an intense game, Walz said, because as in any Game 7 nobody wants to make a mistake or let their teammates down. But there is also a certain freedom to being the underdog and playing, in a way, with house money — whether it's in Colorado, Vancouver or Las Vegas.

"In 2003," Walz said, "we never felt any pressure."