Patrick Reusse: Only victory is acceptable for Wild

The Wild won eight playoff games between April 10 and May 8 in 2003. Since then, the St. Paul heroes have won one playoff game.

How bad is that?

The Vikings have won the same number of playoff games -- one -- during these five years, and they fired one coach and their fans have screamed for the neck of another.

Even Don Lucia has won four NCAA tournament games since May 2003, as he has taken his Gophers hockey team on the magical ride from back-to-back national titles to the second division of the WCHA.

The Timberwolves have 10 playoff victories in these five years. OK, they all came in 2004, but facts are facts:

Since May 9, 2003, the warm and fuzzy Wild -- one playoff victory; the besmirched and battered Woofies -- 10 playoff victories.

Five years ago, the Wild was the upstart, rising up as the sixth seed to defeat third-seeded Colorado and fourth-seeded Vancouver in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

What few of our local hockey types choose to remember about the conclusion of that season is that the Wild was the higher-seeded team in the Western Conference finals against Anaheim.

The X audience was so euphoric over the upsets of the Avalanche and the Canucks that it didn't stop to question the one goal-in-four games embarrassment suffered against the Ducks.

And since that sweep, the Wild flopped in 2003-04, joined the NHL's union-beating lockout in 2004-05, spent 2005-06 keeping the payroll at a minimum in order to maximize owner Bob Neagele's profit margin after the lockout, and got lucky with unheralded goalie Niklas Backstrom and reclaimed a playoff spot in 2006-07.

All that came of that was a consolation victory in the fourth game of another playoff blowout by the Ducks, putting the Wild at a futile 1-8 in the playoffs (vs. Anaheim) since that Vancouver series ended five years ago.

The time has arrived for the Wild to again provide some springtime substance for Minnesota's hockey public.

To this point, the team's zealous followers have been persistently willing to make excuses for their favorites, and now they have a chance to do so again with the loss of defenseman Nick Schultz to an appendectomy.

What it means, more than anything, is that Brent Burns and Kim Johnsson will have to spend even more time on the ice than they have been lately. Thirty minutes apiece? That's about right.

Schultz's surgery can't change this:

If the Wild fails to get past Colorado, this season is a flop. The St. Paul marketing masters made a big deal about winning the Northwest Division, but that banner will be hanging from the roof as an object of ridicule if coach Jacques Lemaire's lads can't advance as a third seed playing a sixth seed.

The Wild will have the best forward on the ice when the series opens tonight. Marian Gaborik has 42 goals and 41 assists for 83 points. The best Colorado can offer as a goal scorer is Milan Hejduk with 29. The Avalanche's points leader is Paul Stastny with 71.

The Wild will have the best defenseman on the ice. Burns has emerged as a star in the second half of the schedule. He's tough and he has jumped into the play for 15 goals to go with 28 assists. Those 43 points are 17 more than Colorado has received from John-Michael Liles, its most productive defenseman.

The Wild also will have the best goaltender in the series. Backstrom, despite an inconsistent start to his season, finished with 33 victories, a 2.31 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

Jose Theodore trails him in all categories, with 28 victories, a 2.44 GAA and a .910 save percentage. And Peter Budaj, the other option, has more inflated numbers -- 2.57 GAA and a .903 save percentage.

Let's see here, the Wild has by far the most dynamic player up front, it has the most dynamic player on the blue line, and it clearly has the best goaltender.

Throw in the fact Lemaire has his choice of the best goon -- Derek Boogaard or Chris Simon -- and is there any reason for the Wild to need more than five games to get past the fossilized Avalanche?

None at all.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com