With thirty seconds left in the final game of their regular season, the Wild were on the wrong side of things needing to earn at least a point against Anaheim to clinch a playoff spot.

Click the video box on this page to watch postgame comments from the Wild after a 3-2 overtime win in the regular season finale clinched a playoff spot

In mid-December, the Wild were tied for the the best record in the NHL. But there they were, with half-a-minute left in the last game on the schedule, they needed a lightning strike to keep their rollercoaster season going.

Enter Joel Eriksson Ek, to deliver that bolt of lightning.

On a second-chance rebound in front of the Ducks’ net, Eriksson Ek flipped the puck in for a game-tying goal with :20.9 seconds left.

The dramatic last-half-minute goal blew the roof off the Xcel Energy Center and secured the point the Wild needed to lock up a playoff spot.

It also allowed for a heck of a scene in overtime, as the Wild pulled off a curtain call of sorts for future Hall-of-Fame goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

With the point secured and the playoff spot clinched, head coach John Hynes swapped starting goalie Filip Gustavsson for Fleury in the break before overtime.

Fleury took the ice to thunderous applause and made five saves in overtime, potentially making the final appearance of his incredible career.

Matt Boldy scored a spectacular – but, specific to playoff consequences, insignificant – goal to give the Wild a 3-2 win.

Boldy’s goal gave Fleury the 575th victory of his career. He’ll retire second only to Martin Brodeur on the all-time win list.

It was also Fleury’s 71st career overtime win, which extends his own NHL record.

As it turned out, the Wild needed to take care of their own business. Wins by St. Louis (6-1 over Utah) and Calgary (rallying from 3-1 down to beat Vegas in a shootout) mean if the Wild hadn’t earned at least the point they needed against Anaheim, they would have been down to the final clinch scenarioof Calgary losing Thursday in Los Angeles.

But, the Wild end up as the Western Conference’s first wildcard by finishing one point ahead of St. Louis.

That gives the Wild a first-round playoff matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights.

This is the 11th time in 13 seasons the Wild have qualified for the playoffs – the most postseason appearances of any team in the Western Conference and tied with Washington for most in the NHL in that timespan.

It’s the 14th postseason appearance in franchise history.