As the Wild prepared to fight for their life on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center, winger Marcus Foligno promised the State of Hockey that this time was going to be different.

All the adversity that has come to define this season for the Wild had steeled them for this exact moment in time.

This particular group of players wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“The pesky Wild will persevere,” Foligno said. “I truly believe that we can get back in the series and win it, and so does everybody in that room.”

It proved to be the same old story a little more than 24 hours later as the Wild lined up to shake hands after suffering a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Just like every time they have qualified for the playoffs over the past decade, the Wild had bowed out in the first round once again.

That wasn’t lost on the locker room in the immediate aftermath.

“We hear the noise of getting by the first round,” Foligno said. “We understand it. We really feel like we could’ve done it this season. That’s the disappointing part.”

That doesn’t mean it was all for naught.

The present was the same for the Wild. The future feels different.

Let’s be honest. As tenacious as the Wild proved to be this season, the Stanley Cup was always going to be a tough ask.

The fact the Wild made the playoffs when so many players missed so much time was a testament to their mental fortitude. This was a successful campaign when zooming out and separating the forest from the trees.

It’s the biggest reason that fans actually believed them this time around.

“It stings worse after this game, because I think we all feel that we could’ve won the series,” head coach John Hynes said. “It was coming in against a really good team. Credit to them. They found a way to get it done.”

After consecutive overtime losses in Game 4 and Game 5 put them on the brink of elimination, the Wild spoke like a group that still believed, and they showed up with a mighty push for Game 6.

The first haymaker landed early in the first period when a high sticking penalty from Marco Rossi resulted in a power play goal from Golden Knights defensive Shea Theodore to make it 1-0. The response from the Wild showed they weren’t going to go down without a fight.

As the final seconds ticked away in the first period, Foligno made an incredible play to keep the puck alive, danced off a check in the corner, then dished the puck off to center Ryan Hartman, who beat the buzzer to level the score at 1-1.

That push continued into the second period, where the Wild got a fearless block from captain Jared Spurgeon that saved a goal, followed by a desperation poke check that also saved a goal.

After sustaining pressure for most of the frame, however, defenseman Brock Faber pinched up in the offensive zone, and Golden Knights star center Jack Eichel took advantage, streaking the other way on a breakaway to make it 2-1.

The knockout blow appeared to come came late in the third period when Golden Knights captain Mark Stone whacked a puck out of midair to make it 3-1.

Not so fast. Naturally, with their back against the wall, the Wild provided a final gasp, with Hartman stepping up to cut the deficit to 3-2 in the final minutes.

Though they couldn’t net the equalizer, the Wild refused to go away until the final buzzer sounded.

“We battled,” Hartman said. “We felt like we had what it took to go forward.”

That’s the toughest pill to swallow. They did.

As the Wild turn the page, however, they don’t have to look too far for silver linings.

They have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and fellow superstar winger Matt Boldy leading the charge into the future. They have a host of other players that know their role, including Foligno, Faber, and irreplaceable center Joel Eriksson Ek, to name a few. They have the dead cap of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter mostly coming off the books this summer. That should allow them to spend.

“We always say the future is bright,” Foligno said. “I really do believe we’re right there.”

If there’s any solace in the sadness, it’s that for the first time in a long time, that statement at least feels like it might be the case.