While there are no moral victories in the playoffs, the lowly Wild came out of the gate and smacked the mighty Blackhawks square in the jaw with their play in Game 1 last night.

The day started badly for the Wild when Jason Pominville woke up not feeling well and was, therefore, not cleared to play while still recovering from what is suspected as concussion-related symptoms from the Dustin Brown cheap shot at the end of the regular season.

The night got worse for the Wild with starting goaltender Niklas Backstrom sustaining an injury in the game warmup. Enter backup goaltender Josh Harding who recently returned to the team after an extended absence due to how the medications being used to treat his M.S. were affecting him. Great! It reminded me of Nick Schultz having emergency surgery the night before the opening playoff game against the Avs some years ago.

Advantage Chicago, right? Wrong! In fact, Backstrom going out may have been a good thing for the Wild who now knew that they had to play a complete defensive game in order to have a chance to even be in the game with the Hawks. No longer could they rely on Backstrom to come through with the big save. Harding was a huge question mark for everyone on and off the ice last night. Harding’s play in Game 1 turned the question mark into an exclamation point.

The Wild drew first blood on Cal Clutterbuck’s short side goal against Crawford within the first 5 minutes of the game. It also was the first Wild shot on net. Given Crawford’s playoff history, he joined Harding in the questionable goalie category from that point forward for many Chicago fans, I’m sure. At the end of the first period, the Wild were surprisingly leading the Blackhawks, 1-0.

The Hawks tied it in the 2nd period during a powerplay on a great lead pass from Kane to Hossa who raced behind the Wild defenseman to rip a shot through Harding’s 5-hole. At the end of the 2nd period, the game was knotted up 1-1.

It would stay that way through the 3rd period, but not without each team having quality chances to take the lead. Harding stopped Kane point blank early in the 3rd. Later, the refs blew the whistle just prior to the Hawks digging the puck out of a sprawled out Spurgeon who was lying on the puck in front of the Wild crease. Then Jason Zucker almost put in a nifty wrap around attempt that slid innocently through Crawford’s crease. And so, at the end of 3 periods, the score was still 1-1.

The Blackhawks are no strangers to overtime. Last year, against the Coyotes, 5 of 6 games went to O.T. The Minnesota Wild, however, were in unchartered waters. No 4-on-4 for 5 minutes. No shootout. Play until someone wins.

Both Harding and Crawford needed big saves to keep their teams in the game in overtime. Crawford even got some help from his best friend, the crossbar, on a Zucker blast. In the end, the Blackhawks defeated the Wild by starting deep in their zone and putting a big check on Torrey Mitchell which led to a turnover and the Hawks D zinging the puck out of their zone off of the glass on a wing and a prayer, getting it behind the Wild defense and converting a 2-on-1 opportunity.

Both teams had plenty of chances throughout the game. Sometimes the goalies came up big. Sometimes the players choked. But, in the end, the Hawks now lead this series 1-0, but the Wild have proven to themselves what I have said for a few weeks now: they can match up well against the Hawks and play with them. The question now becomes can the Wild beat them? Hopefully the Hawks are starting to overthink things and the Wild can keep chipping away at Chicago and maybe steal a game or 2 and make a series out of it.

Notwithstanding the result, Tuesday night’s Game 1 of the NHL Playoffs will be invaluable to the team as a whole as they move forward through the next few seasons. I predict that within 3 seasons, the Minnesota Wild are every bit as good as this Blackhawks team this year. Between upgrading their talent level and going through these growing pains and this learning curve in what it takes to win a game of literal inches, the Wild should be a Stanley Cup contender very soon.

Remember, all the road team needs to do is steal 1 win on the road to take home ice advantage away from the top seeded team. Hopefully, the Wild will have a chance to work on their powerplay which the Wild had 3 of in regulation and 1 partial opportunity during overtime.

Game 2 Friday night. Should be another good one. GO WILD!!!!!!!

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