The Wild has gone into a playoff series before with an edge at the goalie position. I helped cover the 2002-03 playoff series against Vancouver, and it didn't matter if Minnesota was throwing out Manny Fernandez or Dwayne Roloson. Either one was going to be better than the Canucks' Dan Cloutier.
The Wild has gone into playoff series before with a clearly defined No. 1 goalie. Niklas Backstrom was that guy in the 2008 postseason.
But I dare say that until this year, the Wild had never gone into a series with the clear-cut best goalie of the two teams playing AND a clear-cut No. 1 guy in net.
draft night live For Vikings-focused coverage of the NFL draft, check out our live stream on startribune.com starting at 7 p.m. Thursday.
stat lovers Reminder if you have time to kill as you wait for the Wild vs. Chicago series to start: war-on-ice.com has all sorts of stats to consume you.
