Minnesota Wild veteran defenseman Jake Middleton is not an excuse-maker.

Following his team’s dramatic, come-from-behind, 3-2 overtime win in the regular season finale — without which they would be playoff spectators rather than playoff participants — Middleton took a good humored approach to the fact that he was on the ice for both of Anaheim’s goals, and the two late goals by his teammates spared Middleton any kind of scapegoat label.

“Forever grateful for those six guys that were on the ice with 20 seconds left,” he said, with a broad grin.

When the subject turned to the looming playoff series with Vegas, which beat Minnesota all three times they met in the regular season, Middleton pointed out that all three matches were the second night of back-to-back games for the Wild. But those who follow all 82 games know that the schedule was less of a factor than the injury report for Minnesota most of 2024-25.

Tuesday’s game versus the Ducks was just the 11th time in those 82 games that Wild coach John Hynes has had a full healthy roster from which to fill out his line chart. Prior to the clean bill of health on April 15, the last time Hynes had been offered all hands on deck was a Nov. 10 game at Chicago, when for sure a few young Wild fans were still picking through the last of their Halloween candy.

While nothing is beyond the realm of possibility in this season where some players have gotten to know the training staff better than they know their linemates, barring a fluke injury in practice over the next two days, Hynes will have a full array of healthy bodies at his disposal for Game 1 on Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Most notably, that includes forwards Joel Eriksson Ek, who played in 46 of 82 regular season games, and forward Kirill Kaprizov, who missed exactly half of the regular season after a start which had the talented Russian legitimately in the conversation for the Hart Trophy, given to the NHL’s most valuable player.

“I think that’s a benefit, probably, for Ekky and Kirill that they were off for a long period of time,” Hynes said on Friday afternoon, meeting with reporters at the airport before the team boarded its Nevada-bound charter plane. “Now, that time isn’t easy. They had their own issues that they had to deal with. But I think the rigors of the season and the miles you put on as you go through 82 games, hopefully that can help those guys in the series when it gets rocking.”

While its easy to forget just how daunting the injuries were to the team’s nightly lineup on the way to a 45-30-7 record — good for 97 points — a glance at the game-by-game reports of who was in and who was out show that just a small handful of players went all 82 games without an injury-related absence.

The exclusive quartet includes defenseman Jon Merrill and forwards Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Freddy Gaudreau. Another forward, Gustav Nyquist, played in every game for the Wild after March 2, when he was acquired at the trade deadline from Nashville.

Thus, mood swings from early December, when Minnesota had the league’s best record, to late March, when it appeared the playoffs could slip from their grasp, have been both exhilarating and exhausting.

“All 82 games this year, you guys went through it with us, right? It was up and down like crazy,” said Middleton, who also missed time, including four games in April with an upper-body injury. “There was times we thought the world was ending. There was times we thought that we’d already won the league. You guys lived through it with us. I’m sure you’re feeling the same things we are. We’ve got a lot of fight in this room, and that’s kind of…what it’s been all year.”

So, the Wild will face the Golden Knights on Sunday without having to face a different opponent in a different rink the night before. And they will have everyone at their disposal, which is sure to throw a new wrinkle or two at Vegas as they scout their guests from the State of Hockey.

No excuses. The Wild were 0-3 versus Vegas in the regular season, which is one reason the odds-makers generally think a Minnesota appearance in Round 2 of the playoffs is a longshot. But with a healthy lineup in April, there are at least some optimists who see a way Minnesota could beat Vegas four times between now and early May.

“We’re back, right? Like we’re good. We’re confident,” Middleton said. “Especially this time of year. Anything can happen.”