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Unlikely Minnesota Wild Playoff Heroes

minnesota wild playoff heroes
Post-season heroes come in all forms, from the star player to the unknown fourth-liner. We all know the exploits of the great playoff performers. However, we hardly hear about the unlikely playoff heroes. These unlikely post-season stars can contribute in many ways. Contributions could be for an entire playoff run, a series, a game, or even a goal. These unlikely heroes have made big plays that no one expects. This series looks at all of these unknown stars. These are the unlikely Minnesota Wild playoff heroes.

Minnesota Wild Playoff Heroes

Wes Walz

Before the Moment

Hockey fans in Minnesota were still feeling the sting of losing their team to Dallas in 1993, just two years after a Stanley Cup Finals appearance. But the expansion Wild made it back to the playoffs in 2002-03, and it was huge. They bounced back from a 3-1 deficit against the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche to win in seven games. Typically for a Jacques Lemaire-coached team, the Wild played a tight, controlled system. They won the final three games by a total of three goals, and only one team scored as many as four goals once. It wasn’t going to get any easier, playing the high-flying Vancouver Canucks in the next round.

The Series

The Wild had a game-breaker: the fantastically talented Marian Gaborik. The third-year pro just finished his second 30-goal regular season and was the one player Lemaire gave some free reign. Unfortunately for them, Vancouver had an entire first line who had outscored him: the West Coast Express. Still, a good defence is what wins championships, right? Gotta play the game on the ice, not the papers. And those first four games were exactly as expected: tight, close, and decided by four goals. Unfortunately, the Canucks had three wins to one for Minnesota. But underneath the scores, something weird was happening.
Wes Walz, a predominantly third-line veteran signed on as a free agent for the Wild’s inaugural season, had five points. With their backs to the wall *ahem* Walz added two more assists and a short-handed goal in game five’s 7-2 blowout of the Canucks in Vancouver. Minnesota stormed back, scoring 16 goals in three straight wins to take the series from Vancouver four games to three. All told, the 32-year old journeyman finished the series with an astounding five goals and five assists in seven games.

The Aftermath

Alas, that was as far as Wes Walz and the Wild (band name?) would get that year. The next round brought a team they actually tied in points, but the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim won four straight to advance. Walz was kept to zero points, and only got one more playoff assist four years later.

Nino Niederreiter

Before the Moment

Minnesota had a problem. Not a big problem as sports teams go, but it was enough to provoke change. Ever since their dramatic run to the Western Conference Finals in 2002-03, the Wild had made the playoffs just three times in nine years. Each of those three times, they were kicked out in the first round. In the previous year, their leading playoff scorer was the 36-year old Matt Cullen with three assists in five games. They decided to move out shift-disturber and hitter extraordinaire Cal Clutterbuck for the scoring potential of young Nino Niederreiter. It was definitely all “potential” as Niederreiter managed just a single goal in 55 regular-season games with the New York Islanders two years earlier and spent all last season in the minors.

The Moment

He did reasonably well with his new team, scoring 14 goals in 81 games with what was still a predominantly defensive team. They made the playoffs again and found themselves up against the 122-point Colorado Avalanche. Six games and three wins later, Niederreiter had just one assist to show for it. Less than two minutes into the final game of the series, he took a hooking penalty and the Avs took a 1-0 lead. It took until the third period before he repaid that deficit, scoring once to tie the game at 3-3, then getting an assist to tie it again at four. Then, with his second goal of the game and fourth point of the series, Niederreiter scored five minutes into overtime. The Wild went to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for just the second time.

The Aftermath

The Minnesota Wild playoff heroes history hasn’t been kind. The Wild made it to the second round once more since 2002-03, but haven’t made it back to the Western Finals yet. Niederreiter got to the third round once with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018-19 where they lost in four to the Boston Bruins.

Manny Fernandez

Before the Moment

It sounds strange to name a player a hero for a game they lost, but the playoffs are strange times. But before Walz could stand out against the Canucks, Manny Fernandez had to get them past the Avalanche. Fernandez had an excellent season, as did a lot of goalies for Lemaire-coached teams. But going into the first playoff series in team history, Dwayne Roloson was their man. Roloson had only played four games in the second season with the Buffalo Sabres, but that was a lot more than Fernandez’s 19 total minutes over two games with the Dallas Stars.

The Game

Roloson was off to a great start, limiting the league’s fifth-best offence in the league to just two goals on 41 shots, winning Game 1. But Colorado adjusted, picking their spots in a more controlled attack and they won the next two games, scoring three goals in each. Come Game Four, they had Roloson cracked, scoring two goals on their first four shots. Both were to Joe Sakic, so no shame there, but the Wild needed a spark. Lemaire switched to Fernandez, and while they still lost, Fernandez only allowed one goal on 17 shots. Minnesota scored their first goal in five periods and showed signs of life.

The Aftermath

Whatever the book read on Roloson, it wasn’t as effective against Fernandez. He stopped 26 of 28 the next game – another Minnesota win – then 22 of 24 to tie the series. Finally, a desperate Colorado unleashed 45 shots in Game Seven, but Fernandez knew who he was facing, stopping 43 shots. The confident Wild went on to win this series and the one after, though with Roloson at the helm. Fernandez would be excellent against Anaheim, but the team could only score a single goal in four games. That Minnesota Wild playoff series would be Fernandez’s last playoff appearance.

Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images

Erin Butler

Erin Butler

Born in Richmond, Erin Butler moved to the Gulf Islands early on but made sure to pack their Vancouver Canucks fandom with them on the way out of town. Decades later, the fandom is unabated even as the perspective widened. A little more jaded about ownership, but loving the bizarro-world fandom online.

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