Minnesota Wild have 3 possible playoff scenarios
Colorado's 2-1 win over Vegas Monday night means the Wild still don't know if they'll face Colorado or Vegas in the opening round of the playoffs next week.
Minnesota will finish third or second in the West Division, though it's likely that they'll wind up third. The biggest factor in determining who they'll face in the first round will be decided by the West Division winner, Colorado or Vegas.
Wild finish 3rd and face No. 2 Vegas
Colorado's win Monday night keeps this scenario very much alive, and the Avs can steal the West Division title by winning out against Los Angeles Wednesday-Thursday. Colorado also wins the division in any tiebreaker scenario, so the Avs 100% control their own destiny – even if Vegas beats San Jose in its regular season finale Wednesday.
Wild finish 3rd and face No. 2 Colorado
If Vegas wins the division and Colorado secures at least one of four remaining possible points, the first-round matchup between the Wild and Avs will be set. It's that simple.
Wild finish 2nd and face No. 3 Colorado
The only way the Wild can obtain the No. 2 seed and gain home ice in the first round of the playoffs is if Colorado loses out and Minnesota beats St. Louis Wednesday and Thursday. The chances of that happening aren't great considering the Avalanche face the Kings Wednesday and Thursday – a team they've won five of six against this season.
Minnesota went 2-2 at home against the Avs but lost three of four at Ball Arena in Colorado during the regular season, including a handful of games where the Avs absolutely thumped them.
Against Vegas, the Wild went 2-2 in Sin City and 3-1 in St. Paul. Vegas has clearly been a better matchup for Minnesota, even though they too are among the favorites with Colorado to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.