The Minnesota Wild can lock up a playoff spot by earning at least one point against the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Wild (44-30-7, 95 points) own the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference heading into their regular-season finale on Tuesday, four points ahead of the Calgary Flames, who have two games remaining.
“We control our own destiny,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “Now, it’s just on to the last one and the biggest one of the year.”
Minnesota will face the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the playoffs should they qualify. The Wild went 0-3-0 against the Golden Knights this season.
Zeev Buium, 19, is expected to make his NHL debut for the Wild on Tuesday.
The 12th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, Buium recently completed his sophomore season at the University of Denver, where he led all NCAA defensemen in scoring (50) and was third in assists (39) among all players, despite being the second youngest player in college hockey.
The Wild signed Buium to a three-year, entry-level contract on Sunday.
Kirill Kaprizov has two goals and two assists in three games for Minnesota since missing 2 1/2 months with a lower-body injury that required surgery.
Kaprizov led the Wild in goals and points the past four seasons.
Mats Zuccarello is also having a strong finish to the regular season. The 37-year-old veteran winger has seven points (two goals, five assists) in seven games this month.
“Big-time players make big plays, and he just seems to always be there in the big moments,” Faber said of Zuccarello.
The Ducks (35-37-8, 78 points) have been doing a decent job of playing spoiler ever since their own playoff hopes began evaporating late last month.
On Sunday, they went up against the Colorado Avalanche, who were resting their top seven point scorers and couldn’t take advantage, surrendering four straight goals in the final 10 minutes of a 4-2 loss.
“That’s not a reflection of what a team needs to do to be a winning team,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We started out poorly, and we ended poorly. We turned pucks over repeatedly. To me, it’s extremely disappointing. I’ll leave it at that.”
Anaheim will end its season against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, but Cronin doesn’t expect either team to hold anything back.
“I’m imagining Minnesota just got some guys back and they want to play them, so it will be a different game,” Cronin said. “Like, we better play the right way. Winnipeg’s got a prideful team and they all want to get momentum going into the playoffs. We better play the right way, it’s as simple as that.”
Ducks center Mason McTavish continues to play the right way.
He scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season against the Avalanche and has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past 10 games.
“He’s been, probably, our best player in that streak there, where he was like a point-a-game guy,” Cronin said. “Obviously, there’s a bright future for him. Like all these kids, they’ve got to learn to play the right way all the time, but I think Mac’s been a catalyst to our offense for the better part of the second half of the season.”
–Field Level Media
