Top 10 Wild moments of the decade

10. Playoffs, here we come (2013)

It was a fairly disappointing year for the Wild, as fans hoped it would contend for the cup after signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in the offseason, but would have to win the final game in the regular season to make the playoffs as the final seed. Minnesota was fighting with Columbus, coached by former Wild head man Todd Richards, for the final spot. The two teams entered the final night tied with 53 points, and the Wild had the tiebreaker incase the teams tied. Columbus defeated Nashville 3-1, which meant Minnesota needed to knock off Colorado on the road to earn the playoff berth. The Wild did just that, also winning 3-1 to earn a berth in the playoffs against top-seeded Chicago.

Colorado was one of the worst teams in the NHL during the season, but Minnesota still could not overlook the Avalanche. The Wild started fast, as Parise scored with a little more than 13 minutes left in the opening period. The goal was assisted by Charlie Coyle and Mikko Koivu, and Minnesota was on top 1-0. But with less than two minutes remaining in the first, Colorado responded. Ryan O'Reilly scored his sixth of the season for the Avalanche to tie the game at one heading into the first intermission.

But fortunately for Minnesota, goalie Niklas Backstrom shut the door on Colorado the remainder of the night. Just past the halfway point of the game, Devin Setoguchi gave the Wild the lead back, and the road team would never relinquish it the rest of the way. Setoguchi scored off assists from former Wisconsin standout Tom Gilbert and Matt Cullen. The lead remained 2-1 at the end of two periods.

Colorado had chances in the third, but Backstrom thwarted the attempts, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced. Pierre-Marc Bouchard sealed the deal with an empty netter with four seconds to go, and Minnesota was off to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. It also started a string of six consecutive playoff appearances. Minnesota fell in five games to Chicago in round one, but it was nice to see playoff hockey again in the ‘State of Hockey.’

9. John Curry is a brick wall.....that can feel pain and cries a lot (2014)

John Curry had not played in the NHL in four years since he played with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In April of 2014, Curry started against St. Louis for his first game since January 2010 and just his fifth game overall. The journeyman 30-year-old goalie responded with stopping a career-high 43 shots against one of the best teams in the league, the St. Louis Blues, as he helped the Wild defeat St. Louis 4-2.

It was the second to last game of the season and Minnesota was ticketed for the playoffs as the first wild card. The Blues were 52-20-7 and played like it offensively in this game, but Curry dominated the game. Nino Niederreiter got the party started with a goal off assists from Jonathon Blum and Matt Cooke. That was the only goal of the first period.

Four goals were scored in the second, two by each team. St. Louis scored the first and third goals, tying the game each time. Kevin Shattenkirk scored the first goal of the period for the Blues on the power play, tying the game at one. But less than a minute and a half later, Kyle Brodziak responded short handed. Later, it was Jaden Schwartz who scored short handed, tying the game at two. But once again, less than a minute and a half later, Matt Moulson scored to regain the advantage for Minnesota. Brodziak scored his second of the game less than a minute into the third to put the Wild in front 4-2, which would hold up the remainder of the game.

Curry earned the first star of the game, stopping 43 of the 45 shots he faced. He was peppered by the Blues, as St. Louis shots on goal, 45-15, but the Wild made the most of its shots, scoring four times. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Blues. Curry played two games for the Wild the following season and allowed five goals in the two games, and never played another game in the NHL. But for one night, with his family and friends in the stands, he was the best goalie in the league.

8. Road warriors (2015)

Minnesota was left for dead midway through the 2014-15 season, as it was 18-19-5 and out of a playoff spot. After the acquisition of Devan Dubnyk, everything turned around, and that includes winning on the road. Following a loss to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2, Minnesota was 28-21-7. After that game, the Wild tied an NHL record by winning 12 straight road games before the streak ended on the final game of the regular season at St. Louis. The streak tied the Detroit Red Wings from 2005-06. After the last game of the streak, Minnesota was 46-27-8 and ticketed for the playoffs.

The streak began with an overtime win against a real good Calgary team. Less than two minutes into the extra session, Mikko Koivu scored to give the Wild the 3-2 win. The squad won two days later at Edmonton and the Wild was in business. In addition to the win at Calgary, Minnesota also won at Nashville three times, Washington, St. Louis, the NY Islanders and Chicago. All were playoff teams. That is eight games against playoff teams on the road, so it wasn’t like the team was playing poor competition. Of those 12, two were won in overtime and one was won via a shootout

The winning streak was snapped in a 4-2 loss to St. Louis in the last game of the regular season. However, the two teams met in the playoffs, and Minnesota won the series 4-to-2, winning two of the three games played in St. Louis.

7. Smokin’ the Doobie (2015)

Minnesota was a struggling hockey time, and much of that was due to the poor play of the guys in net, namely Niklas Backstrom. He was 5-7 and had a goals against average of greater than three. Not good. On January 15, the Wild made one of its best trades in franchise history, sending a third round pick to Arizona in exchange for Devan Dubnyk. The Wild was 18-19-5 and losers of its last six, so the Wild made the trade to bring Dubnyk to St. Paul, and he was thrust in immediately as the starter, and the new goalie led them on a run that eventually led them back to the playoffs, including pulling an upset of St. Louis in the first round.

During Minnesota’s six-game losing streak, the Wild allowed a total of 29 goals. Allowing an average of nearly five goals per night will beat you basically every night. In two of those games, the Wild allowed seven, including the last one, a 7-2 beating at Pittsburgh. After the trade, the team picked it up. Dubnyk was immediately named the starter upon receiving him, which is how desperate the team was. In the first game following the trade, Dubnyk stopped all 18 shots faced en route to an easy 7-0 Minnesota victory to stop the losing streak. Buffalo was not a good team, but still, it was a huge step forward, especially after what the previous starting goalies had done. Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper faced the same Sabres team in November, and the duo combined to let in three.

His second game was against Arizona, his former team, and Dubnyk stopped 25 of 26 shots en route to a 3-1 win. From January 27 through March 28, Dubnyk won 24 of 30 to put Minnesota into the playoffs after a poor beginning of the season. After being acquired, he started every game for the Wild in net, and was an impressive 27-9 with an even more impressive 1.78 goals against average. In the playoffs, he led the Wild to an upset of the heavily-favored St. Louis Blues. He had a 2.3 goals against average against St. Louis, but that was inflated due to allowing 10 combined goals in games two and four. In the games Minnesota won, he was brilliant, posting one shutout and only allowing four goals in the four Wild wins. Since then, he has been a mainstay in net for Minnesota.

6. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over (2010)

Chicago was really good. I mean, REALLY good. The Blackhawks came in at 31-10-3 and eventually went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2010. Minnesota was treading water at 21-20-3 and the teams met at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Chicago had dominated the first two meetings at the United Center. The Blackhawks dominated this meeting too....for the first two periods. After two, the Blackhawks led 5-1 and were primed to improve to 32-10-3. However, Minnesota scored four times in the final 14 minutes to tie the score, with Guillaume Latendresse knocking home the tying goal with 1:33 left in regulation. In a shootout Minnesota would win, as Owen Nolan scored the winning goal in the eighth round.

Chicago wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, as Patrick Sharp scored just 1:22 into the game to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. Latendresse scored to tie it up four minutes later, but from there on, it was all Blackhawks the rest of the period. Not three and a half minutes apart, Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg scored to put the Blackhawks on top 3-1, and it would remain that way at the end of the first. In the second, Troy Brouwer scored on the power play and Marian Hossa scored shorthanded, and it was 5-1 after two, and most thought the game was over. Except for the Wild, that is. Following that fifth Chicago goal, Niklas Backstrom was replaced by Josh Harding.

Minnesota started the comeback with Andrew Ebbett circling behind the Blackhawks goal before sliding a perfect pass in front of the net to Kim Johnsson, who fired it home to cut it to 5-2. The second goal came off a rebound by Mikko Koivu and it was 5-3 with still 12:31 remaining. Cal Clutterbuck fired a one-timer past Cristobal Huet on the power play less than a minute and a half later, and all of a sudden, it was just a one-goal game with still 11:11 remaining. It stayed that way until the final two minutes of the game.

There was a fight for the puck, and Nolan and Eric Belanger were fighting for the puck with a few Blackhawks, and Nolan was able to gain control of the puck and center a pass to Latendresse, who fired a one-timer past Huet to tie the game! The rest of regulation and overtime came and went without a goal being scored, so they went to a shootout. Koivu scored on his first attempt in the shootout, but Patrick Kane responded in round two. After that no one scored until round eight. In that round, Nolan fired one top shelf over Huet’s left shoulder and the Wild had the advantage in the shootout. Harding needed to stop John Madden (no, not THAT John Madden) in order to preserve the win. He did just that! Madden tried to go backhand and Harding stoned him. It was a “meh” year, but this one is a game to remember.

5. Successful debuts for Parise, Suter (2013)

The biggest free agent acquisitions in Wild history took place on July 4, 2012, when Zach Parise and Ryan Suter both teamed up to go to the Minnesota Wild. It took a little bit longer than the Wild hoped to get them in the regular season because of the lockout and teams started playing in late January. Colorado scored the first goal of the game, but Minnesota scored the next three en route to a 4-2 win, much to the delight of the Xcel Energy Center crowd.

As mentioned above, the Avalanche jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage just over two minutes into the game, as John Mitchell scored on assists from Steve Downie and Milan Hejduk. From that point on, Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom was lights out. The score remained 1-0 heading into the second period. That was when Minnesota turned it up and took control of the game. Not four minutes into the second period, former Wisconsin Badgers standout Dany Heatley fired one past Semyon Varlamov and it was a brand new contest. It was the first of two goals for the former Badger. On the goal, one of the assists was by Parise, his first one as a member of the Wild. Not even a minute later, Minnesota had its first lead of the season on a goal by 20-year-old rookie Mikael Granlund. The assists were given to Jared Spurgeon and Devin Setoguchi. Heatley added another for good measure midway through the period, and just like his first goal, Parise had one of the assists. The score remained 3-1 at the conclusion of the second period.

Colorado scored one more to keep it close on a goal from Cody McLeod with just under 15 minutes remaining and it was 3-2. But Backstrom slammed the door shut the rest of the night, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard put the capper on an Opening Night victory against Colorado with a goal to make the final 4-2. Parise had two assists and Suter helped hold the Avalanche to two goals. I’d say it was a successful debut for the prized free agent signings.

4. MS no match for Josh Harding (2013)

This was the second game following the lockout, and after a win on opening night against Colorado, Minnesota took on Dallas at the Xcel Energy Center. The Wild won 1-0 on the first goal of his Minnesota career by Zach Parise, but the big story would be goalie Josh Harding. During the lockout, on November 28, 2012, it was reported that Harding had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In his first game back following the diagnosis, he shut out the Stars in the victory, helping the Wild start the season 2-0.

Both teams played the night before, and came out a bit sluggish, but the Wild put the first (and only) tally of the game on a one-timer by Parise. The major free agent acquisition passed to Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who fed it right back to Zach and he fired it on net and past Cristopher Nilstorp to give the Wild the lead. On any given night, that would be the lead story. However, this was Harding’s night.

Josh stopped 24 Dallas shots on the game, including some crucial ones. He made a nice glove save of Alex Goligoski late in the first period, and then with the game winding down, he shut down Ray Whitney when he had a wide open look with a little more than a minute left in the game. The Wild did not generate much offense all night, but Harding made the one goal stand up. It was a terrific moment for Harding, shutting out a team after being diagnosed with MS a few months prior.

The game was one of only three starts for Harding on the season, and it was his only win in the 2013 season. Harding came back to post an impressive 18-7-3 record in 2013-14. Following the season, he was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. It is named after the former Minnesota North Stars player, who is the only player to ever die from injuries suffered during an NHL game.

3. Zucker Punched (2013)

In the first season with Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, it was a bumpy ride. Minnesota clinched the final seed in the Western Conference playoffs on the final day of the season. The Wild were paired with the Stanley Cup favorite, the Chicago Blackhawks. In game one, Minnesota scored first, but Chicago answered, and then won in overtime. The Blackhawks won game two handily, 5-2, and the series headed to St. Paul for game three.

In game three, Chicago was able to score first in the opening period when Patrick Kane made a nice pass to Johnny Oduya, who blasted one past Josh Harding, and the Blackhawks had a 1-0 lead. That lead would be short-lived, though, as Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored to even it up. It was a great play by Bouchard and Cal Clutterbuck, as Bouchard brought the puck up and dropped it to Clutterbuck, who rifled a shot that was saved, but the rebound went back to Cal. While on his back, he passed it to Bouchard, who fired a backhand top shelf to beat Corey Crawford and the score was knotted at 1. It stayed that way until the third period.

The Wild dealt the first blow in the third period, taking the lead three minutes into the third. Charlie Coyle fought for the puck behind the Blackhawks net. Coyle won the battle and made a sweet dish to Parise in front of the net, who also went backhand to the top shelf and the Wild had a 2-1 lead. It remained 2-1 until the final few minutes, when Chicago tied it back up. Kane had the puck at the blue line and passed it a wide open Duncan Keith, who blasted one past Harding top shelf over the right shoulder to tie the game. It went to overtime, like many Wild playoff classics. It was do-or-die for Minnesota.

Chicago had the first chance in the extra session when Oduya rifled one in, but it went off of Harding’s stick a half minute in. However, the next chance went to the Wild, and it cashed in. Bouchard had the puck on the boards in the back of the Chicago net, and he passed it to Matt Cullen. He fought two Chicago defenders to try to break free, and fell down. While falling, he managed to pass it to Jason Zucker, who buried it from an impossible angle! After hitting the crossbar on a shot in overtime in game one, he did not miss this one. Zucker fired it top shelf over the left shoulder of Crawford, and it surprised him, I think. Crawford was down on his knees, and was not able to get back to his feet. Minnesota lost the next two to lose the series, but the incredible overtime goal by Zucker will not soon be forgotten.

2. St. Louis feeling the Blues (2015)

Up to that point, Minnesota had won three series in the playoffs, but not one of them was clinched at the Xcel Energy Center. That changed in 2015 when the underdog Wild was the first Wild Card and were able to knock off the St. Louis Blues in six games. Minnesota stole game one in St. Louis, and the teams alternated wins through the first five games. The Wild had a chance to take a 3-1 lead back to St. Louis for game five, but the Wild was pounded 6-1 in St. Paul. The Blues scored first in game five in St. Louis, but the Wild scored four straight to win 4-1, and give the home fans a chance to witness the first series won there. Minnesota did not disappoint.

In the series, not one game was decided by a single goal, and this one was no different. Minnesota came out pumped up and thrived off the electricity in the building. Zach Parise fed off the energy and scored the first goal of the game shorthanded with just under 13 minutes to go in the first period. It would stay that way until the second. That would be when Justin Fontaine scored to give the Wild a two-goal advantage. However, the Blues gained confidence heading into the second intermission, as T.J. Oshie scored with four seconds remaining in the second. It could have changed the whole complexion of the game. Things could have gone south for the Wild, but the team rebounded and played well in the third period.

The positive energy for the Blues lasted about a minute into the third, as Parise scored his second goal of the night, pounding home a rebound 1:01 into the third period, and the Wild had that two-goal lead back. It seemingly took the wind out of the sails of St. Louis. The Blues had a few chances, but Devan Dubnyk was up to the task to keep the Wild in front by two. Minnesota closed the door on St. Louis when Nino Niederreiter shot into an empty net from the opposite blue line. Game. Set. Match. The Wild celebrated the 4-1 upset, and clinched its first series at home.

1. El Nino sends the Avs packing (2014)

Minnesota came in with 98 points, good enough for the second Wild Card. Colorado won the Central Division with 112 points, after finishing with the fewest points in the entire Western Conference the year before (second worst in the NHL). Not many people thought the Wild had a chance, especially after the Avalanche won the first two games at home. In a terrific series, only two games were decided by more than one goal and four of the seven went into overtime. The seventh and deciding game also went into overtime, and Nino Niederreiter scored five minutes into overtime to give the Wild the 5-4 win in the game and the 4-3 series win.

It was a great game seven with the teams trading goals throughout. Eleven years prior, the Wild pulled off a huge upset in the seventh game in the first round against Colorado, essentially ending that dynasty. This year, the Wild wasn’t ending any dynasty, but the Avalanche were the No. 2 seed in the West. It did not take long for the home team to light the lamp, as Nick Holden scored a power play goal and the Avalanche drew first blood. There would be two more goals in the first period. Mikko Koivu tied it up for the Wild, but Jamie McGinn answered for Colorado, and the Avs took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Minnesota’s Dany Heatley (former Badger) scored the only goal of the second, and it was 2-2 heading to the third period.

Paul Stastny scored to give Colorado a 3-2 lead three minutes into the third, but Minnesota would not go away. Niederreiter tied it up at 3, and the teams traded goals in the final nine minutes. Jared Spurgeon scored for the Wild to tie the game with less than three minutes left. Whenever the Wild needed a play, someone made it. The game would go into overtime, just like the seventh game in 2003.

With about five minutes gone by in the overtime, the Wild had another overtime hero against the Avalanche. Niederreiter advanced the puck on a 2-on-1 scoring chance with Kyle Brodziak. Nino thought about passing it to Brodziak, but fired one on net that hit the left post and went in past Semyon Varlamov! The Wild love the upsets in the playoffs, and unfortunately for Colorado, the Avalanche have been the victim twice.