The next time the Wild plays at Xcel Energy Center will be in the playoffs, opponent to be determined.
But whoever the Wild faces could be in for an uphill climb when the series descends on St. Paul.
Despite needing overtime for the fifth time in the past six games, the Wild still defended its ice by outlasting the Ducks 4-3 on Saturday in front of 3,300 fans to finish the regular season 21-5-2 at home, for the best points percentage in franchise history (.786).
"Whenever you're playing at home, you want to make sure you take care of business," captain Jared Spurgeon said. "We've done that so far this year, and we have to continue that going into playoffs."
Victor Rask was the latest to capitalize in the extra session, taking a stretch pass from Matt Dumba and wiring it into the back of the net at 2 minutes, 46 seconds for his 10th goal of the season, second in as many games and third career overtime tally.
"It was just a great pass by [Dumba]," Rask said. "He caught everyone off guard."
The finish spoiled Anaheim goalie Ryan Miller's final game. The NHL's all-time wins leader among U.S.-born goalies is retiring, and after the game, Wild players lined up to shake hands with Miller, whose family was at Xcel Energy Center. He made 21 saves against the Wild.
"It was nice to have them there," Miller said of his parents. "They were there in the beginning. Felt it was right to have them there at the end."
This trend of bonus hockey started with the Wild rallying in the third to extend the action, but recently it's been the Wild blowing late leads — including against the Ducks.
With 26 seconds left in the third and Miller on the bench for an additional attacker, Max Comtois served up a game-tying goal on a one-timer. Earlier in the period, Anaheim moved within a goal of the Wild at 3-2 on a Trevor Zegras shot at 2:18.
Overall, though, this was a much crisper performance by the Wild after a bevy of turnovers to the Ducks in the 4-3 overtime win on Friday. Cam Talbot had 19 saves, improving to 12-2-2 at home.
BOXSCORE: Wild 4, Anaheim 3 (OT)
"We just weren't risky," coach Dean Evason said. "We didn't try to make plays between legs and sticks. The guys were very committed."
After the Ducks scored 12:02 into the first on a Rickard Rakell deflection, the Wild responded at 16:32 of the period when Kirill Kaprizov dropped the puck for Spurgeon for a redirect on the power play.
"He's so deceptive with the puck, and obviously he's a threat to shoot at any time," Spurgeon said. "So, it makes the goalie honor him."
The assist was Kaprizov's 50th point and pushed his point streak to a career-high six games. Kaprizov has five goals and five assists during that run, and he's the first Wild rookie to record three point streaks of five-plus games in a single season. The Wild finished 1-for-4 on the power play; the Ducks were 0-for-1.
That 1-1 tie hung around until Kaprizov set up Ryan Hartman on a 2-on-1 break that Hartman finished 15:05 into the second. The helper extended Kaprizov's multipoint-game streak to four, another Wild rookie record. Kaprizov finished the week with four goals and four assists in four games.
"I would be more than fine with him shooting that puck, too," Hartman said. "Good chance he's going to put it in the net."
On the very next shift after Hartman's goal, the Wild doubled its lead after Nick Bonino slapped the puck by Miller at 15:56. The next Wild goal was Rask's clincher, a goal that helped the team get closer to possibly snagging home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
"There's multiple teams in this league where you go into their building you know it's going to be a tough night," Hartman said, "and we want to be one of those teams where they come into the Xcel and they're expecting a long night."
