On a night where the Minnesota Wild honored former Hurricanes captain Eric Staal for his achievement of 1,000 games played in the NHL, the ‘Canes were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before their game even finished thanks to an Ottawa Senators victory over Detroit, making the Wild’s 5-3 win a formality.
Tonight also marked the NHL debut of Hurricanes forward Andrew Poturalski and the return to action of Hurricanes forward Bryan Bickell following his diagnosis with MS that came in November.
The Wild struck first early on as Zach Parise finished off a cross-crease feed from Staal.