This season has set a new standard for Wild hockey.
More than 30 records have been broken, including individual scoring clips (Kirill Kaprizov), point streaks for a rookie (Matt Boldy) and goaltender (Cam Talbot) and plus-minus (Alex Goligoski). Most wins, points and goals are among the team categories that have been surpassed.
But what the Wild does next in the playoffs will likely dictate just how successful the 2021-22 campaign really is.
"There are a lot of positive things that have happened this year," General Manager Bill Guerin said before the Wild ended the regular season by clinching home ice with a 4-1 victory over Colorado on Friday night. "The team has played very well. A lot of players have reached a lot of different milestones. The organization's reached some milestones, and that's great.
"Those are not the milestones we're looking for. Like I've talked about all year, there are higher expectations here and making the playoffs is nice, but that's not enough."
The Wild and its first-round opponent, the Blues, both ended up near the top of the Western Conference and because of their regular-season performances, the series is one of the most anticipated around the league.
The best-of-seven series will begin Monday at 8:30 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center. Game 2 is Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. before the teams head to St. Louis for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.
This clash also means a quality competitor will be bounced before Round 2. Such is the reality of the NHL's division-based playoff setup that has the second and third finishers in each division face off initially, with the first-place clubs meeting a wild-card entrant.
"Anybody can beat anybody in today's game, and we've all seen it," Guerin said. "We've all seen lower seeds go on incredible runs because they just catch fire and they believe in what they're doing.
"Hey, look: We're playing who we're playing. It's going to be a great, great matchup, and we're going to do what we have to do."
Injury update
Captain Jared Spurgeon and defenseman Matt Dumba played Friday against the Avalanche, their last opportunity for game action before the playoffs start.
Spurgeon was coming off an upper-body injury suffered Sunday at Nashville, while Dumba had been sidelined with an upper-body injury that knocked him out of the lineup on April 5. With those two returning, Goligoski and Jordie Benn were scratched.
Up front, the forwards stayed the same although the team did have Tyson Jost and Nick Bjugstad switch spots, with Jost joining Kaprizov, and Ryan Hartman and Bjugstad centering the fourth line.
Mats Zuccarello missed a fourth straight game with a lower-body injury, but coach Dean Evason said the team is optimistic Zuccarello will draw in for Game 1.
"He's skated lightly," Evason said. "Nothing has gotten worse; it's just not healed to the point where we feel comfortable to put him in a game situation."
The Wild debated resting players ahead of the playoffs, an idea Evason mentioned to Spurgeon that Spurgeon "was not very happy" about, but the team decided to keep its regulars on the ice.
"There's a lot of different variables for why we've done what we've done," Evason said, "and one of them is to continue to play like the Minnesota Wild play and have the people in the lineup that we think will start in the playoffs."
Winger Marcus Foligno did leave the game because of a knee injury.
Call-ups coming
The Wild will have reserves from its minor league roster in Iowa around for the playoffs, but the team is likely to only have a third goaltender travel with it to St. Louis.
Guerin said prospect Marco Rossi, who had 18 goals and 35 assists to tie for the team lead in points (53) as a rookie, was hurt in his last game and will be evaluated.
