Shocking effort by Wild on a night they could have made the playoffs: 4 takeaways

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CALGARY — Apparently, the Minnesota Wild didn’t get the win-and-in memo.

In an uninspired effort against a desperate opponent also fighting to make the playoffs, the Wild had a chance to win in any fashion Friday night against the Calgary Flames and make the playoffs for the 11th time in the past 13 years.

Instead, they completely no-showed as the Flames outworked and outplayed them from start to finish en route to a 4-2 victory at the Saddledome.

If the Wild defeat the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night in the second of a back-to-back, they’d clinch a playoff spot if the St. Louis Blues lose in regulation to Seattle. The Wild have 93 points with two games left in the regular season. The St. Louis Blues can get to 97 if they win their final two games, and the Flames can get to 96 if they win each of their remaining three games, so Saturday’s game will be as pressure packed as imaginable for the Wild.

If the Wild win out, they’ll make the playoffs. But if they lose in Vancouver, they no longer control their destiny if the Blues win.

“(We’ve got to) get to our identity,” veteran Marcus Foligno said. “We haven’t done it the last two games. It’s got to be something that’s just automatic. It’s got to be simple and effective and with pace and with conviction that you’re going to get the puck back. And sometimes we go in there and we hope that it squirts to us. And that’s sort of like tonight. They were more energetic to get the puck back, and we seemed to be hoping for it a little bit more.”

Filip Gustavsson was chased from goal 7:20 into the third period for Marc-Andre Fleury after allowing his fourth goal on 29 shots with zero support by the 18 skaters in front of him. With the score 4-0, coach John Hynes went to the end of the bench to explain his rationale and let him know he would be starting Saturday’s game in Vancouver. That likely means the retiring Fleury has made his final NHL start, at least in the regular season.

“Highly competitive game and we were the second-most competitive team on the ice,” Hynes said. “San Jose game (Wednesday) was a little bit of a pond hockey game for us, and then tonight we were the second most competitive team on the ice, so that’s not really who we are and what we’ve been, but we’ve got to make sure that that’s gonna be different (Saturday) night.”

Yakov Trenin and Gustav Nyquist ruined Dustin Wolf’s shutout bid with two meaningless goals late in the third.

Maybe the eight goals they scored against the Sharks on Wednesday night made them think everybody defends like San Jose. The Wild looked like they thought Friday’s game against Calgary was going to be easy, but they never put on the work boots necessary to beat the hard-working Flames.

They couldn’t connect on passes. They couldn’t sustain pressure. They couldn’t generate scoring chances.

There were just way too many passengers.

“It’s disappointing,” said Mats Zuccarello, who was limping badly after the game. “Gus helped us out in the beginning. We couldn’t really get any play going, get out of our zone. They pinned us in a lot of times. We didn’t play connected. Why? I don’t have the answer to that right now, but at the end of the day, it’s not good enough. But we gotta regroup and (Saturday) is a big game again.”

Last week, when the Wild had a similar effort against the Islanders, the Wild returned home and played one of their best games in the second half in a win over Dallas. So they’ve shown recently they can bounce back. They better do it again in Vancouver, or they will put their playoff hopes in peril.

“I’m confident (we will),” Hynes said. “I think the last two games, it’s not indicative of who we are, but the thing is, when you have a strong identity and you know what gives you the best chance of winning, when that’s clear, you know what it is, but there needs to be a commitment to that, and to me, the last two games, the commitment to playing the way that you need to win and the way that we need to win wasn’t at a high enough level.

“So we need to make sure that that’s there (in Vancouver).”

Jared Spurgeon hurt in second period, returns, leaves again

With the Wild down 1-0 after one period, captain Jared Spurgeon sustained a scary injury on his first shift of the second period when he got hit with a puck in the throat area. He panicked immediately as he tried to catch his breath and asked Flames center Yegor Sharangovich for help. Finally, one of the refs helped him to the bench, and replays showed he was in distress as athletic trainers grabbed him and helped him to the medical room.

“Yeah, it was sort of serious,” Sharangovich said. “I was not understanding what he was saying to me. I thinks it’s my English. … I feel bad because I should help him. He (held) me and the referee helped him after. After, I asked what happened and he said, ‘He lost his breath.’”

Spurgeon missed the remainder of the second period. By the time he returned to start the third, the Wild were down 3-0. Spurgeon played six shifts in the third period but left for good with six minutes remaining.

Hynes indicated it was no longer an emergency situation after the game.

“It’s always scary,” Foligno said of pucks hitting that area. “I think he was kind of getting a little lightheaded, so it’s something that we hope that he’s fine for (Saturday).”

Wild bit by unforced error in the first

The Wild did not play their best hockey in the first period.

They barely had a scoring chance and the Flames defended terrifically to the point the Wild couldn’t sustain pressure because Calgary was first on every puck and exited before the Wild’s support could establish a forecheck.

Still, it looked like the Wild were going to get out of it until an unforced error late in the period. Gustavsson played Joel Hanley’s dump-in behind the net with Brock Faber coming down the left wing and Jonas Brodin to Gustavsson’s right with no pressure on him. With Faber directing Gustavsson to pass to Brodin, Gustavsson instead sent a backhander around the dasher past an out-of-position Faber.

The puck was picked off by Blake Coleman, who alertly fired at the net from the wall with Gustavsson scrambling back. Gustavsson served up a meatball and Mikael Backlund scored on the rebound for a 1-0 lead.

MIKAEL BACKLUND!

The Flames open the scoring in the first period!

📹: Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/BBz6kpwTwo

— FlamesNation (@FlamesNation) April 12, 2025

So-so first period followed by awful second

The Wild just made life way too easy for the Flames in the second.

One feeble shift by the Freddy Gaudreau line led to the Flames countering and Sharangovich scoring on a deflection of a harmless-looking shot by Martin Pospisil. Then, Brodin took the game’s first penalty and Nazem Kadri scored 15 seconds into Calgary’s power play when the Wild allowed Jonathan Huberdeau to camp out in front of Gustavsson’s eyes.

Goal No. 32 for Nazem Kadri ‼️ pic.twitter.com/3gsftLSbXV

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 12, 2025

It was peculiar Hynes didn’t pull Gustavsson at this point to rest him up for Saturday’s game in Vancouver. That being the case, one wonders if it had already been promised to Fleury that he’d make his final NHL regular-season start against the Canucks because Fleury did say a few days ago his mom and sister may fly in for the game.

But now, because of the way the Wild played Friday, he will not get that start.

Plain and simple, this was a game where the Wild just didn’t have it. You could even see it late in the second when the Wild drew consecutive power plays, including an abbreviated five-on-three. Despite four minutes of power-play time, the Wild registered two shots on goal down 3-0.

“I think in our D-zone, we didn’t play quick,” Foligno said. “We kind of were shoveling things and that led to just kind of longer O-zone time for them and just a little bit sloppier in the neutral zone. Just quicker decision-making was needed, and I thought they had it, and we didn’t. So, yeah, not a great response in this situation, and it’s frustrating. They definitely had a better jump than us, and (we) paid for it.”

Added Zuccarello: “We gotta play connected as a group, help each other out. Five guys on the forecheck, five guys back. And today we gave them too much. I don’t know why, to be honest with you. I don’t think we as a team performed to the level that we expect to in a game like this, but it’s disappointing for sure. But it’s this time of year where it goes quick and you have to forget about it quick, talk about it (Saturday), probably show some video and get back at it. We gotta win a hockey game.”

The plan for Zeev Buium

Next up for Zeev Buium after finishing as a runner-up for the Hobey Baker Award on Friday night is the official end to his college career and signing his three-year, entry-level contract with the Wild. That was supposed to come Sunday.

One reason is Buium can’t be on the Wild’s roster until Cameron Crotty is returned to Iowa for cap reasons, but he’s on the road trip with Jake Middleton day to day with an upper-body injury. Middleton skated in Calgary on Friday morning, so he’s getting closer and has a chance to play in Vancouver, Hynes said.

If Spurgeon can’t play, the Wild would need Middleton to return, have Crotty make his Wild debut or sign Buium and rush him to Vancouver for a mid-afternoon arrival in advance of his NHL debut.

Buium, at least before Spurgeon’s malady, was expected to fly from St. Louis to the Twin Cities on Saturday, sign by Sunday and practice Monday with his new Wild teammates so he could possibly make his NHL debut Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks.

Buium, 19, scored 98 points in two years at Denver and this season averaged 27:03 per game — third highest in NCAA Division I hockey.

Also, Riley Heidt, whose career at Prince George has just ended, has been assigned to the Iowa Wild for their final four regular-season games. However, he sustained an injury in the WHL playoffs, so it’s uncertain if he’ll get in any games.

(Photo: Sergei Belski / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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