The evening of Tuesday evening could be decisive in the west, while the Wild of Minnesota and the Blues of St. Louis could confirm their place in series.
The Wild signed a 3-2 victory in overtime against the Anaheim Ducks, while the Blues had the best on the Utah Hockey Club with 6-1 and the two teams assured their place for spring dance.
Calgary’s flames were the other team still alive, before the Wild and Blues victories. Calgary, who faced the Golden Knights of Vegas in the evening, was however eliminated without even having his say.
The seasons of the Wild and the Blues being finished, the order of the two drafted teams is also complete. The Wild obtained 97 points this year and the team will conclude the season at the forefront of the drafted teams, while the Blues obtained the second post after a 96 -point harvest.
The magic of Minnesota!
There was something magical in the air in Minnesota on Tuesday evening.
In addition to having confirmed its place in series thanks to a very late rise against the Ducks, the Wild decided to offer a last appearance to Marc-André Fleury in front of his supporters.
Fleury was sent as a succession in overtime to complete the match, since Filip Gustavsson was the start of the team.
Fleury arose with five stops, including several in a digital disadvantage of the Wild, then Matthew Boldy offered the victory to the Wild with a goal when there were only 18 seconds left to the additional time.
Even if the only presence of the Wild in overtime had confirmed the place in the team’s series, there was something poetic to see Fleury win a last victory in the regular season.
“It was a lot of emotions, we drew from the back to the end and we scored a big goal. I embarked in the match and I tried to take advantage of it as I could, “said Fleury after the match.
This victory obtained against the Ducks was the 575th of his career and it will be his last since he will retire at the end of the season. In the history of the NHL, only Martin Brodeur won more matches than Fleury.
Tuesday evening, Joel Eriksson Ek sent the match in overtime when he marked with 22 seconds to play in third to match the brand 2-2. He completed a brilliant game of passes by pushing the washer at the bottom of the net.
“I like guys, I like the group. They don’t give up, they always fight. We have had a lot of tight matches in the last two months. We are fighting to have the victories, it’s a big gain tonight, “said Fleury.
In overtime, he recalled some memories with several beautiful stops to prevent the Ducks from winning. Boldy rewarded Fleury with 18 seconds to play in overtime when he marked a good wrist shot in the enclave, after a nice pass from Marcus Johansson.
Johansson also scored the other goal of the Wild, in the first period.
Alex Killorn and Sam Colangelo hit the target for the Ducks.
