Wild lose to Predators in OT, finish 3rd in Central

The Minnesota Wild lost to the Nashville Predators 4-3 in their regular-season finale at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Thursday.

The Wild finished third in the Central Division and will play either the Colorado Avalanche or Dallas Stars in the Western Conference First Round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs next week.
Colorado trails Dallas by one point for first place in the Central but can win the division with a win at Nashville on Friday. Minnesota will face the second-place finisher.
"It's been a long season," Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson said. "Felt short at times, long at times but now the (regular season) is over and now we're in the playoffs. That's what we all were aiming for and now the hard work begins."
Frederick Gaudreau scored two goals and Gustav Nyquist had two assists for Minnesota (46-25-11). Gustavsson made 27 saves.
Juuso Parssinen scored 2:44 into overtime to win it for Nashville. Ryan McDonagh fed Parssinen, who went between the legs with a backhander to beat Gustavsson.
"I saw (Cody) Glass pass the puck to (McDonagh) and I just decided to go to the net and I was wide open," Parssinen said. "He made a nice pass and I find a way to score."

Parssinen also had an assist for the Predators (42-31-8), who missed the playoffs. Juuse Saros made 21 saves.
"I think, with this particular group over the last six weeks, it's just been a group that's, they've been hungry. They've been tenacious. And, you know, they play with a lot of pride," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "And I thought we did those things tonight. It was good to see."
Mark Jankowski made it 1-0 at 8:02 of the first period with a short-handed goal, tapping in a pass from Tyson Barrie who split the defense on the rush.
Jon Merrill found Gaudreau for the one-timer to tie the game 1-1 at 14:19.
Kiefer Sherwood puts Nashville back ahead 2-1 at 16:19, potting the rebound after Tommy Novak beat Merrill in close with his shot stopped by Gustavsson.
"We know that they play man on man so I think if we cut back and burn a guy, then you should have an opportunity," Sherwood said. "I got a fortunate bounce."
Gaudreau tied it 2-2, slapping the loose puck past Jaros after he made the initial stop on Marcus Foligno at 10:46 of the second period.
Yakov Trenin made it 3-2 after capitalizing on a bad line change for the Wild in the neutral zone at 14:04 of the third period.
"Their d-man made an awkward play, I thought he just went for the puck but he went for a change, I couldn't believe my eyes," said Trenin. "And then we get as many passes as we can just to shake the goalie and good things happen."

Nic Petan answered back 16 seconds later for the Wild for a 3-3 score after Sammy Walker chased down a misplayed puck for Petan to bump home at 14:29.
It was Walker's first NHL assist. Damien Giroux had the second assist for his first NHL point in his NHL debut.
"We thought we competed our butts off," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "Obviously got a point and the way the guys competed was positive."
NOTES:Gaudreau signed a five-year, $10.5 million contract with the Wild announced during the first intermission. It has an average annual value of $2.1 million. … Nyquist has four points (one goal, three assists) in three games with the Wild. The forward was acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb.28.