The Minnesota Wild clinched a playoff berth when Joel Eriksson Ek forged a tie with 21 seconds left in regulation, then the Wild wrapped up a 3-2 win over the visiting Anaheim Ducks when Matt Boldy scored with 18 seconds remaining in overtime Tuesday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves in regulation and Marc-Andre Fleury, set to retire after his 21st season in the NHL, made five saves in overtime and helped Minnesota kill a power play.
Marcus Johansson also scored for the Wild (45-30-7, 97 points), who earned the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot to highlight their regular-season finale.
Alex Killorn and Sam Colangelo scored while Lukas Dostal made 37 saves for the Ducks (35-37-9, 79 points), who have lost three in a row with one game remaining.
The Ducks took a 2-1 lead at 8:45 of the third period.
Mason McTavish and Colangelo sprung loose on a 2-on-1 rush and McTavish made a late feed to Colangelo, who scored with a backhand for his 10th goal of the season.
The Wild pulled Gustavsson for the extra attacker and Dostal made a sprawling stick save on Eriksson Ek, but he scored the rebound for the tying goal that sent the game to overtime and guaranteed Minnesota the point it needed to wrap up a playoff spot.
The Wild hit the post twice in the first eight minutes before Johansson gave them a 1-0 lead at 9:47.
Minnesota caught the Ducks making a line change and Wild defenseman Jake Middleton made a stretch pass to Mats Zuccarello along the wall at the Anaheim blue line.
Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas played the puck, leaving Johansson undefended and he sprung loose. Zuccarello slid the puck to Johansson for a short breakaway and he scored his 11th goal of the season.
The Ducks tied it 1-1 at 13:48 of the first period.
Leo Carlsson brought the puck across the Minnesota blue line and dropped a pass for Cutter Gauthier at the left point. His wrist shot hit Middleton in front of the Wild net and Killorn poked the loose puck through the pads of Gustavsson for his 19th goal of the season.
