In January, the Minnesota Wild had two veteran goalies who could become unrestricted free agents after the season. One or both seemed destined to be traded by the March deadline.
Eventually, the Wild made a choice.
Minnesota committed to Manny Fernandez on March 3, signing him to a three-year, $13 million extension. And then at the trading deadline, the Wild shipped Dwayne Roloson to the desperate Edmonton Oilers, who were convinced the lack of decent goaltending had been its main problem all season.
Though the Wild’s close-to- the-vest style long has aided Minnesota goaltending numbers, it also can’t completely discredit Fernandez’s work for a last-place team this season. And that was even more obvious Sunday night, when Fernandez had a career-high 40 saves and allowed only two goals – to John-Michael Liles and Cody McCormick in the third period – as the Wild knocked off the Avalanche 5-2 at the Pepsi Center.
The victory was Fernandez’s 30th of the season. After platooning with Roloson for much of the Wild’s existence, he now has played in 33 of the past 38 games.
“It opens a lot of doors for me,” he said. “Thirty wins usually comes with a real No. 1 guy. It means you play a lot of games to get to 30. It gets me into an elite group. And in the NHL, if you can get up there, it’s something to be proud of.”
Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said of the Avalanche: “In their situation, it’s got to hurt a bit. But they had a lot of good chances and they didn’t score.”
Footnotes
The Avalanche’s Joe Sakic had an assist on Liles’ goal, extending Sakic’s scoring streak to 13 games. …
Marian Gaborik, whose hat trick gave him 37 goals for the season, said the Wild players “want to know that we finished the season strong, even though we didn’t make the playoffs. When the playoff picture isn’t there anymore, it’s hard to get motivated and get going. I think we’re doing fine, especially these last few games.”
