The Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third straight year on Friday night and like many in the Xcel Energy Center, Ryan Hartman wasn’t pleased.
The Wild center voiced his frustration after a 3-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, empathizing with the fans in attendance and a team that hasn’t advanced past the first round since 2015.
“[I’m] sick to my stomach about it,” Hartman told reporters. “This city deserves better than what we gave them. The fans, they’ve shown up for us all year and we failed them. And it feels like shit.”
The series with the Stars felt like deja vu for Wild fans, who watched their team blow a 2-1 series lead for the second consecutive season. Questionable officiating had a hand in Minnesota’s collapse, but so was the inability to take advantage of their opportunities against Stars goalie and Lakeville native Jake Oettinger.
“There’s opportunities throughout this series where we could have not necessarily put the nail in the coffin, but we could have separated ourselves a little bit more,” Hartman said. “…We failed to capitalize on [those] opportunities.”
Hartman will enter the final year of a three-year, $5.1 million contract extension next season but the Wild will have to find a way to make upgrades to get past the first round.
With the cap hits of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise increasing to $14.7 million next season, general manager Bill Guerin will have his hands full trying to help the Wild break through their glass ceiling.
Related: Brian Murphy: Wild’s worst playoff letdown should put Evason on the griddle
