It’s a Wild Outcome in the West

It has been a wild postseason. And now it’s a Wild postseason.

In merely its third year of existence, the Minnesota Wild became the first team in NHL history to erase a 3-1 series deficit twice in the same playoff season. By rallying to subdue the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2, Thursday at GM Place, the sixth-seeded Wild earned a berth in the conference final against the seventh-seeded Mighty Ducks, no slouches themselves at rallies and upsets.

“Are you kidding?” Minnesota Coach Jacques Lemaire said when asked if he had ever dreamt of such a scenario. “Never in a million years.”

This most unlikely of matchups will begin Saturday afternoon at St. Paul, Minn., which proudly calls itself the state of hockey. Game 2 will be played Monday, before the series shifts to Anaheim Wednesday and Friday.

“They’re a very well-coached team. They’re exactly like us,” Lemaire, who won the Stanley Cup as a player with Montreal and as coach of the New Jersey Devils, said of the Ducks. “It’s going to be a fun series....

“I said many times during the season, ‘It’s our year,’ because a lot of things happened that don’t happen often. You get breaks. You get goals at the right time. You get a goal from a guy that gets two in a year. It seems like everything works for us.”

Everyone works for them, too, contributing to their seventh-game upset of the fourth-seeded Canucks. That followed their seventh-game overtime elimination of the third-seeded Colorado Avalanche, a script similar to the Ducks’ upsets of Detroit and Dallas.

“They won. They deserved to win,” Vancouver Coach Marc Crawford said. “You compliment them and wish them well.”

Despite falling behind, 2-0, in the second period, the Wild chipped away until Wes Walz tied it on a rebounder at 8:05 of the third period. Minnesota native Darby Hendrickson put them ahead to stay after taking a fine pass from Richard Park -- who grew up in Los Angeles and played 11 games for the Ducks in the 1996-97 season -- and beating Dan Cloutier to the goalie’s glove side at 14:48 of the third period. The Wild cemented their lead with a power-play goal at 17:27, by Pascal Dupuis.

“I’ve got to admit, there was a lot more emotion in [the locker room] than we’ve ever shown,” Walz said. “We’re going to let our emotions go a little crazy, for at least a few hours.”

After a physical but scoreless first period, the Canucks broke through to score twice in 61 seconds in the second period and bring the crowd to a fever pitch.

Mattias Ohlund scored through a screen at 11:29, after teammate Jarkko Ruutu had crossed in front of Wild goalie Dwayne Roloson and obscured his vision. Roloson had no time to react to the shot, which sailed over his glove.

With the fans still savoring that moment and waving their souvenir towels, the Canucks scored again, at 12:30. Todd Bertuzzi was sprung for a breakaway from the blue line in on a well-timed pass by Brent Sopel and he slotted a backhander over Roloson for his first goal in nine games.

The Wild, however, showed no signs of sagging. Dupuis cut the Canuck lead in half at 15:30, when he batted down a puck that had hopped over the net after several players had jostled for possession behind Cloutier. Upon review -- to make sure Dupuis’ stick hadn’t been above the the crossbar -- the goal stood.

“That was a huge goal for us,” Walz said.

Once Walz brought them even, it was merely a matter of time before they pulled it out.

“Honestly, I didn’t think we expected how things came to us as they did,” Park said. “But one common thing that has been here since the first day of training camp is everyone’s belief in each other. When you believe in the guy next to you, you can do amazing things.”

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Comeback Kids

The Minnesota Wild overcame a 3-1 deficit for the second time during this season’s playoffs:

3-0 COMEBACKS

1975 -- Quarterfinal, N.Y. Islanders def. Pittsburgh.

1942 -- Stanley Cup final, Toronto def. Detroit.

3-1 COMEBACKS

2003 -- Western Conference semifinal, Minnesota def. Vancouver.

2003 -- Western Conference quarterfinal, Minnesota def. Colorado.

2003 -- Western Conference quarterfinal, Vancouver def. St. Louis.

2000 -- Eastern Conference final, New Jersey def. Philadelphia.

1999 -- Western Conference quarterfinal, St. Louis def. Phoenix.

1998 -- Western Conference quarterfinal, Edmonton def. Colorado.

1995 -- Eastern Conference quarterfinal, Pittsburgh def. Washington.

1994 -- Western Conference quarterfinal, Vancouver def. Calgary.

1992 -- Division semifinal, Pittsburgh def. Washington.

1992 -- Division semifinal, Vancouver def. Winnipeg.

1992 -- Division semifinal, Detroit def. Minnesota.

1991 -- Division semifinal, St. Louis def. Detroit.

1990 -- Division semifinal, Edmonton def. Winnipeg.

1989 -- Division semifinal, Kings def. Edmonton.

1988 -- Division semifinal, Washington def. Philadelphia.

1987 -- Division final, Detroit def. Toronto.

1987 -- Division semifinal, N.Y. Islanders def. Washington.