Edmonton spoil the playoff party with thrashing on Friday.
With an expectant sell-out crowd at the Xcel Energy Center on Friday night, the Minnesota Wild could not deliver the win that would have sealed their place in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Edmonton Oilers spoiled the party with their 6-1 win, leaving a stunned crowd having to wait for their playoff berth to be secured.
The Wild will now need a road win against the Colorado Avalanche or a loss by the Columbus Blue Jackets against Nashville on Saturday to seal their first post season appearance since 2008.
If each team gets one point, the Wild will qualify via a tiebreaker, and they could yet finish as high as seventh in the West.
However, they will want to quickly forget about arguably their worst performance of the season against the Oilers, and bounce back to ensure the party is merely postponed rather than cancelled.
Mikko Koivu was the only player on the scoresheet for Minnesota in what was a consolation hit in the third period, while Corey Potter struck twice for the Oilers, and was supported with goals from Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and a double Nail Yakupov.
