Wild Playing Above Playoff Status As Only Wild-card Team With Series Lead, Entering Game 4 Vs Vegas

The wild-card berth has suited Minnesota well. It's part of the franchise's nickname, after all.

With game-breaking production from Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, shut-down defense on the first line for the Vegas Golden Knights and stellar goaltending by Filip Gustavsson , the Wild have a 2-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

For a team that barely got in the NHL playoffs , struggling to stay afloat while Kaprizov and fellow first-line forward Joel Eriksson Ek recovered from long-term injuries, the Wild have sure flipped a switch to meet the moment in the playoffs against a Golden Knights team that finished with the third-best record in the regular season.

Since the NHL realigned and revamped the postseason format starting with the 2013-14 season, this is the fourth time Minnesota qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs as a wild-card team. The Wild won first-round series in 2014 and 2015, before losing in 2016. That six-game victory in 2015 over St. Louis was the last time they won a series.

This spring, Minnesota is the only one of the four wild-card teams with a lead in the series.