Wild win, clinch a playoff spot. For JP.

ST. PAUL, Minn. --- Matt Boldy gave the Wild a 1-0 lead against Vancouver on Thursday night, but a pair of Canucks goals in 42 seconds sent the teams to the first intermission with Minnesota trailing 2-1. 

Boldy set the tone 23 seconds into the second period with a breakaway goal for his second tally of the evening and 40th of the season. Boldy is the fourth player in Wild history to hit the 40-goal mark in a season, joining Eric Staal, Marian Gaborik and teammate Kirill Kaprizov. 

“It feels good,” Boldy said. “You set those goals to score goals and see how many you can get. Just happy the team’s doing well and found a playoff spot tonight.”

Not to be outdone, Kaprizov kept pace by scoring his 40th goal of the season on a laser pass from Mats Zuccarello for a 3-2 lead about six minutes into the second period. Boldy and Kaprizov are the first two players in Wild history to each record 40-goal seasons in the same season. According to NHL Stats, it’s also the first time in 31 years that a pair of teammates have eclipsed the mark in the same game. 

“Yeah, I think it's good. It's nice,” Kaprizov said. “We both play power play and together sometimes same line. And I think it's pretty good when two guys score so many goals and just help each other.”

Burying the lede just a touch, the Wild earned a 5-2 victory over Vancouver to officially clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. No drama in game No. 82 this time. It’s the 12th trip to the playoffs in the past 14 years and 15th overall for the Wild. 

The Wild have seven regular-season games remaining, starting with back-to-back games in Ottawa and Detroit this weekend. They’ll likely get a chance to rest some players while also fine-tune their game ahead of the playoffs. 

“We do have a plan, and we have talked about different situations and different scenarios, but I do think right now it’s still I think focus on this weekend and see if we can continue to get some wins and get our game going and then see where we’re at after the weekend,” said Wild coach John Hynes.

Thursday was a game filled with good storylines and stat nuggets – Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves in the victory, the 100th for him with the Wild – while at the same time, it was a somber night in the press box, too. 

It was the first home Wild game since the tragic house fire on March 21 that took the lives of NHL writer and podcaster, Jessi Pierce, and her three children, Hudson, Cayden and Avery Hinrichs. The Wild placed Jessi’s photo, flowers and a special name card in loving memory of the four of them at seat No. 40, Jessi’s assigned seat, in the press box at Grand Casino Arena. 

There was also a pregame moment of remembrance and silence to honor Jessi and her children. Beat writers Michael Russo and Sarah McLellan handed out special JP pins in the press box, a special way to honor Jessi and the kids. 

While it was a difficult night when tears flowed, it also seemed fitting when Boldy scored his second goal of the night to reach 40. He’d gone the past seven games without scoring a goal. But he made no mistake about his two shots on Thursday. 

Why so fitting? Because for a while this season, Jessi made note of the countdown to 50 goals for Boldy whenever he scored. For instance, she'd Tweet that he scored with something like: "Matt Boldy now 32 away from 50 goals." 

Some people kept the bit alive on social media last night when Boldy scored. Jessi would have loved it. 
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By the end of the night, the final horn sounded and the Wild got their 42nd victory of the season to clinch a playoff spot. They had a few chances to clinch earlier this week, either with a victory themselves or by other teams winning or losing in certain scenarios. None of it happened. A playoff spot had felt inevitable for a while, but to officially clinch it in front of the home fans in a game where Jessi was honored? It just seemed to fit.