Wild’s Mats Zuccarello vocal on ’empty feeling’ after Avalanche collapse

The Minnesota Wild collapsed in Game 5 against the Colorado Avalanche. Brett Kulak sent the Wild home for the season with an unlikely overtime goal. There will be time to dissect things as reality sets in and the offseason begins. For now, Mats Zuccarello and his teammates are simply gutted over how things ended on Wednesday.

“I think everyone feels empty right now. It wasn’t the finish we wanted. We knew it’d be a tough series. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain right after a game like that. You’re an older group, so these chances don’t come that often. So I think it’s just empty,” the Wild veteran said, via The Athletic’s Michael Russo.

Minnesota had a big 3-0 lead at one point in this game. Nick Foligno scored twice in the first period to give Minnesota that cushion. Jesper Wallstedt was having an incredible game in his own right, as well. Everything was going Minnesota’s way.

However, the Wild eventually fell apart. The Avalanche scored twice in 2:10 in the third period to tie the game and force overtime. In overtime, the Wild had their chances. Michael McCarron whiffed on a shot that could’ve easily been a goal. And Kirill Kaprizov passed up a scoring chance in favor of a one-time attempt.

Zuccarello and his teammates certainly wanted more from this postseason run. However, despite the empty feeling, there is pride in how they performed this season.

“You know what, we battled our a***s off, all of us, back checking, hitting, blocking shots, we just lacked a little bit of that offensive-mindness in the last two periods and that sucks,” the Wild forward said after Game 5.

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