Wild Earn Playoff Bid With Win Over Avs Saturday Night

With the scoreboard showing both the Red Wings and Blue Jackets winning their games on Saturday night, the Wild needed a win over Colorado to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Fortunately for Wild fans, Minnesota held on in a nail-biter for a 3-1 win over the Avalanche at Pepsi Center in Denver. Niklas Backstom made 29 saves for the Wild in the win.

Zach Parise scored his eighteenth goal of the season at 6:42 of the first period for a 1-0 Wild lead. Ryan O'Reilly answered for Colorado with just under two minutes remaining in the first to tie the game at one.

Devin Setoguchi scored the eventual game winning goal on a power play at 12:20 of the second period for a 2-1 Wild lead. Pierre Marc Bouchard closed out a frenzied third period with an empty net goal to make the score 3-1.

The Wild will take on the #1-seeded Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs with dates and times to be announced.