It was all just an illusion.
The Wild really weren't the team that was going carry Minnesota into the land of champions. They weren't the chosen ones ending the decades-long drought of disappointments, after all. It was just a big tease. The ferocious regular-season comeback, the first-round triumph ... merely preludes to the ultimate frustration. As usual.
The Wild now are out of their misery. Once again the Blackhawks took care of business on Minnesota ice, sending the Wild off to their golf courses and fishing holes -- after a proper 24-hour mourning period, of course.
But there is no need for them to worry.