The Wild advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with an impressive six-game series win over the second-best team in the NHL\u2019s Western Conference. It was Minnesota\u2019s first playoff series victory since 2015.<\/p>\n
The Wild had exorcised a demon that had been plaguing them for 10 years, but the accomplishment might have taken more out of them than they thought.<\/p>\n
![\"Wild](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/stp-z-nickfoligno-0516-01.jpg\")
Wild forward Nick Foligno, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal on in Game 5 of Minnesota’s second-round playoff series in Colorado on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Foligno scored twice in the Wild’s 4-3 overtime loss at Ball Arena. (Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
With only one full day off before starting the second round, the Wild dropped their first two games to the Avalanche by a combined score of 14-8 and fell into a hole they couldn\u2019t get out of.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, it starts with Game 1 and 2,\u201d center Michael McCarron said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we were quite ready (to be) emotionally invested in the series. Sometimes when a team has gone through what the Wild have gone through the past 11, 10 years, of not being able to get through the first round, it\u2019s almost like, \u2018We did it.\u2019 Maybe, took a breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t all of it, of course.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche \u2014 the regular-season\u2019s President\u2019s Trophy winner \u2014 had been waiting for the Wild or Stars since sweeping an overmatched Kings team in the first round. The Wild, meanwhile, found out after midnight on Friday, May 1, that they would start the second round on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
That gave them one full day off between series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed like we were a little tired,\u201d said McCarron, a trade-deadline acquisition who played a large role for the Wild on their muscle line \u2014 two goals and four points in 11 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it was a big thing in the Minnesota sports world to get out of the first round,\u201d he added. \u201cI think, maybe, a lot of guys who have been here for a long time \u2014 including me, I\u2019d never been out of the first round \u2014 but just coming off that emotional high (was difficult).\u201d<\/p>\n
Forward Nick Foligno, a trade-deadline acquisition who scored twice in the Wild\u2019s 4-3 overtime loss in Game 5 on Wednesday, said emotional letdowns can happen, and while the Wild finally found themselves in a dominant, 5-1 victory in Game 3, he acknowledged that maybe the damage had been done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably the difference in the series, right?\u201d he said. \u201cYou go down 2-nothing that early and we just never could quite find our game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foligno and McCarron were the two deadline acquisitions who found roles on a team that general manager Bill Guerin had loaded for bear, and their perspectives as latecomers \u2014 shared Friday as they cleared out lockers and went through team exit interviews \u2014 were interesting.<\/p>\n
But Foligno and McCarron, both free agents on July 1, both said the Wild will be a Stanley Cup contender next season if they can absorb the lessons they learned from an Avalanche team that can win their second Cup since 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been around a long time,\u201d said Foligno, 38, \u201cand I think it gets thrown around a lot, but I\u2019ve genuinely seen a lot of great teams, and I\u2019ve seen a lot of bad teams, and I think this team is on the verge of understanding what it takes to win. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing I\u2019ll take away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if this group can get to that mindset, with the core that they have, the hunger that they have to win, I don\u2019t see that we won\u2019t be a team in the Stanley Cup Finals and vying for that down the road. Because the skill is too great, the want is too great, and they\u2019re surrounded by a great staff and great organization. That\u2019s building it to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Free agents<\/p>\n
The Wild might have a solid young core with Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes all signed through next season, but Guerin has decisions to make about key veterans this summer.<\/p>\n
Mats Zuccarello (nine points in eight playoff games), Vladimir Tarasenko (23 regular-season goals) and Marcus Johansson (four playoff goals) can all become unrestricted free agents on July 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for a little less than Kirill, like $16 million,\u201d Foligno joked, \u201cand then I think we\u2019ll make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
All six of the veteran forwards found roles and were productive, and the Wild\u2019s cache of young forwards in the minors isn\u2019t deep. Zuccarello, in particular, has been invaluable as a mentor and friend to Kaprizov, and part of the team\u2019s power play.<\/p>\n
Zuccarello was playing this season in the last of a two-year, $8.25 million deal and said he\u2019d like to play \u201ca couple more years, one or two more. I feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, he added, \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to say what (the Wild) want, and whatever is going to happen. But it\u2019s going to be hard to see yourself leaving here, for sure. I\u2019ve had my family, and my girls are growing up here; it feels like home. But it\u2019s not always up to yourself. You know how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
Center Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin missed all of the second-round series with injuries.<\/p>\n
Brodin broke a bone in his right foot while blocking a shot in Game 5 of the series against the Stars. He said he had been planning to return late in a conference final series if the Wild had advanced.<\/p>\n
Eriksson Ek broke his right heel bone after tripping and crashing into the boards in the Wild\u2019s Game 6 victory over Dallas. He said he will take a few weeks off before assessing the damage.<\/p>\n
Asked if was close to returning in the playoffs, he said, \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m not sure. I don\u2019t know. The times I\u2019ve tried to skate on it, I really couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wild advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with an impressive six-game series win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[5,499,161,38,5280,4,43,162],"class_list":["post-576229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-wild","tag-hockey","tag-joel-eriksson-ek","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-minnesotawild","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-wild"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116583334344298364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}