With little left in the season to play for, the Wild's mantra the past week has been to play for "pride," for the logo in front of the sweater and for jobs next year.
Yeah, playing out the string isn't particularly fun.
Well, Monday night, the Wild, a team beaten to an emotional pulp the past two months, a team whose players have said they're "embarrassed," worked impressively, did the little things all over the ice and gave its paying fans something to cheer about for a change as it upset the Northwest Division-leading Vancouver Canucks, 2-0.
"It's a lot different feeling getting cheered off the ice," said Kyle Brodziak, who scored a 140-foot empty-netter and assisted on Erik Christensen's winning goal. "That one, we deserved for sure. It just feels good to play a full 60-minute game, do the things that we've been talking about doing for so long.
"It's definitely a feeling that we missed."
The Wild won for the 10th time in 42 games (10-25-7), for the third time in the past 13 home games and for the first time at home since Feb. 26.
Josh Harding, injured March 8 and, like his team, having trouble racking up wins for three months, made 33 saves for his first victory since Jan. 21 and sixth career shutout. He had been 2-8-3 in his previous 15 appearances with a 3.33 goals-against average and .897 save percentage.
Harding credited his teammates, but coach Mike Yeo felt Harding sent them a message 27 seconds in that he was there to play when he gloved down a Chris Higgins snipe.