Wild advance, set to meet Avalanche
- Minnesota beat Dallas 5-2 in Game 6 on April 30, ending an 11-year drought and setting up a second-round series with Colorado. - Quinn Hughes scored twice and added an assist in the clincher, while Matt Boldy added two empty-net goals after Dallas tied it. - Colorado swept Los Angeles and owns home ice, but Minnesota has won two of three prior playoff series.
The NHL part is simple — Minnesota is finally back in the second round, and now the reward is Colorado. The Wild closed out Dallas 5-2 in Game 6 on Thursday, April 30, their first series win in 11 years. Colorado had already swept Los Angeles, so this matchup was waiting. Now one of the West’s hottest teams gets the conference’s top seed. (startribune.com) ### How did Minnesota get here? Minnesota got here by finally finishing a series instead of letting it drift away. The clincher against Dallas was tight deep into the game, tied 2-2 in the third, before Quinn Hughes broke it open and (startribune.com)s spent a decade carrying the weight of early exits. (startribune.com) ### Why was Game 6 such a big deal? Because it snapped a drought that had started to define the franchise. The Wild had not advanced past Round 1 since 2015. That kind of gap changes how every playoff game feels — not just for fans, but for the room. You could see it in how hard they pushed to end the Dallas series at home instead of risking a Game 7 on the road. (startribune.com) ### Who drove the clincher? Hughes was the biggest swing piece in the closeout. He scored twice, added an assist, and got the game-winner on a shot that banked in off Ilya Lyubushkin’s skate. Boldy supplied the late finish with two em(startribune.com)tant. (startribune.com) ### What makes Colorado so dangerous? Colorado was the No. 1 seed in the West and won the Presidents’ Trophy, so this is not some soft landing spot. The Avalanche swept the Kings in four games and got first-round production from every(startribune.com).950 save percentage. Basically, Colorado arrives rested, deep, and with home ice. (nhl.com) ### Does Minnesota have a real path? Yes — but it starts with surviving Colorado’s pace. Minnesota’s own top-end offense showed up in Round 1. Kirill Kaprizov and Boldy led the Wild with nine points each against Dallas, and Hughes had eight. That gives Minnesota more than one way to scor(nhl.com) loose in transition. (nhl.com) ### What about the regular season? Colorado had the edge there too, going 2-1-1 against Minnesota. MacKinnon did real damage in those games with seven points, while Kaprizov answered with six for the Wild. So the regular-season read is not that Minnesota was outclassed — more that Colorado controlled the matchup slightly and still had to deal with Minnesota’s stars. (nhl.com) ### Is there real playoff history here? There is, and it gives the series a little extra charge. Colorado and Minnesota have met three times in the playoffs before, and the Wild have won two of those series. The most recent came in 2014, when Minnesota won in seven games. That history does not decide anything now, but it does keep this from feeling random. (nhl.com) ### Bottom line Minnesota finally cleared the hurdle that had been hanging over the franchise. But the next problem is much harder. The Wild now face the league’s best regular-season team, with Game 1 set for Sunday or Monday in Denver. If the Dallas win was the breakthrough, this Colorado series is the test of whether the breakthrough means anything bigger. (startribune.com)
