Say this for the Minnesota Wild. They might have missed the postseason for just the second time in 12 seasons, but injuries and all, they were not among the Western Conference’s worst teams in 2023-24.

In fact, they have proven to be much better than the conference’s worst teams.

In their 80th game of the season, the short-handed Wild hammered the San Jose Sharks, 6-2, at SAP Center on Saturday to improve to 14-3-0 against the six teams below them in the conference standings.

Kirill Kaprizov finished with two goals, raising his season total to 44, and Matt Boldy scored his 28th of the season as the Wild swept their three-game season series with the Sharks, last in the West with a 19-52-9 record.

It was a big night for the Wild’s prospects, as well. Liam Ohgren, called up Wednesday to make his NHL debut this week, earned his first NHL goal and assist, and Jesper Wallstedt made 27 saves for his second NHL victory.

Rookie defenseman Declan Chisholm, claimed off waivers from Winnipeg on Jan. 29, scored his third NHL goal for Minnesota, which plays at Los Angeles on Monday before returning home for their season finale against Seattle on Thursday.

Against the other Western Conference teams that didn’t make the playoffs this season, the Wild are 16-4-2, their only losing record against ninth-place St. Louis (1-1-2). The problem, of course, is the rest of the conference, against which they are a combined 8-18-3.

Minnesota has been without key players and key times all season. They got only 16 games from team captain Jared Spurgeon before he had season-ending surgery in February, and alternate Marcus Foligno had season-ending surgery to repair core muscles on April 2.

On Saturday, the Wild played without forwards Mats Zuccarello and Freddy Gaudreau, who each missed his second game for personal reasons, but it didn’t matter against a San Jose team that has won only five times since Jan. 31.

Jan Rutta and Mario Ferrara scored for the Sharks, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 32 shots.

Ohgren, the Wild’s first-round pick in the 2022 entry draft, earned his first NHL point in the first period when he won a puck battle on the boards in the offensive zone that led to Chisholm’s goal from atop the right circle with 3:09 left in the first period. That gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

“Ohgren continues to impress,” head coach John Hynes told reporters in San Jose. “I mean, he’s got NHL speed, he’s competitive, he’s got hockey sense, he’s got a good shot.”

Playing in his second NHL game, Ohgren made it 3-1 when he backhanded a rebound past Blackwood at 14:32 of the second period. Veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian retrieved the puck from the net for his new teammate.

Rookie center Marat Khusnutdinov, who signed this winter after completing his Kontinental Hockey League season, earned an assist and was a plus-2 after scoring his first NHL goal on Thursday. Defenseman Brock Faber leads all rookies in time on ice this season, averaging 25 minutes plus, and Marco Rossi’s 21 goals are second to only Chicago’s Connor Bedard.

“It’s really good to see that not only are they getting opportunities to play, but they’re making an impact,” Hynes said.

Kaprizov scored a pair of goals late in the second period, the second after the Wild earned a power play with 36 seconds left. He one-timed a pass from Joel Eriksson Ek for his 44th goal, second in franchise history to the 47 he scored in 2022-23. The goal was his 18th power-play goal this season, a franchise record.

Jonas Brodin finished with two assists, and Kaprizov added one for his

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Minnesota United’s string of late, game-changing goals couldn’t be doubled on Saturday night at Allianz Field.

The Loons found an equalizing goal in the 70th minute, but Houston answered in the 77th to send MNUFC to a 2-1 loss.

Franco Fragapane had a scissor kick in the 8th minute of stoppage time and then Jordan Adebayo-Smith’s header nearly went in, but Dynamo goaltender Steve Clark denied both chances.

Loons players fell to the grass in disappointment when the final whistle blew.

MNUFC (3-2-2, 11 points) had a nine-match unbeaten streak snapped against Houston (4-2-1, 13 points).

Trailing 1-0 in the 70th minute, Wil Trapp’s pass played Robin Lod into space. Lod was patient to wait for Franco Fragapane’s late run into the box, and Fragapane scored.

The Loons lead didn’t last as Houston’s Sebastian Kowalczyk blasted a shot past Dayne St. Clair in the 77th minute.

Tani Oluwaseyi produced a late equalizer in the 1-1 draw with Real Salt Laka last week, but his header in the 80th minute went off the post, while Clark appeared to get a touch on the attempt as well.

United’s offense was much better than the first half, when their best first-half scoring chance came with Teemu Pukki’s high press forcing a Houston turnover in the 34th minute. Trapp pounced on the giveaway and shot, but a video review determined the ball didn’t fully cross over the line.

Four minutes later, Houston’s corner kick went of Loons midfielder Alejandro Bran’s thigh for an own goal.

The Loons attack failed to get much else going in the opening 45 minutes. Pukki had MNUFC’s only other shot on goal, while Houston had only one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

Bongi Hlongwane slipped twice in the attacking third and failed to find teammates on other entries into the 18-yard box.

Houston had allowed six goals allowed in six games and a league-high 61 percent possession rate was a big reason why they had allowed so few, according to Loons coach Eric Ramsay.

The Loons created more chances to start the second half and fans responded with encouraging cheers. The best chance was Sang Bin Jeong putting a close-range shot off the post in the 60th minute.

MNUFC needed to fill two holes on the left side of its defense Saturday, with center back Micky Tapias out with a hamstring injury and Joseph Rosales suspended for a red card in draw with Real Salt Lake last weekend.

Rookie center back Hugo Bacharach made his MLS debut and first start, with Devin Padelford bumping out to left back after filling in at left center back the previous two games.

Bacharach lost an individual duel before Kowalczyk to set up the winning goal.

Briefly

Emanuel Reynoso remains away from MNUFC this weekend, but there is some movement on him potentially returning to Minnesota next week, the Pioneer Press heard Saturday. The All-Star midfielder left the team to travel to Argentina to work on his U.S. green card on March 18. He then missed his immigration meeting in Argentina on March 25 and has stayed in his native country, creating an unexcused absence from Loons. … Bran was subbed out at halftime, with Hassani Dotson coming in. Bran replaced Dotson after 45 minutes last weekend in the 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake. … Bacharach started over Victor Eriksson, who had a shaky debut in the 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on March 30. MNUFC is working to build back Eriksson’s confidence after a rough opening minutes a few weeks ago. … Saturday’s game fell on the five-year anniversary of the first contest at Allianz Field, a 3-3 draw with New York City … The game ball was delivered by Maurice Hargrow, the former Gophers men’s basketball player from St. Paul. He now works for non-profit TOUCH Outreach.

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The Denver men’s hockey team used a formula that it used throughout the postseason to wrap up its NCAA-record 10th championship.

The No. 3-ranked Pioneers scored two goals in the second period and Matt Davis stopped all 35 shots he faced to beat top-ranked Boston 2-0 in the Frozen Four championship game Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. The title breaks a tie that Denver had shared with Michigan.

Denver, which outscored its opponents 80-39 in the season, took a 2-0 lead into the third period.

Left wing Rieger Lorenz made a pass from above the top of the faceoff circle to the right of goalie Jacob Fowler down to right wing Jared Wright at the faceoff dot. Wright, a sophomore from Burnsville and a Los Angeles Kings draft pick, took a few strides toward the net and his shot went off of Fowler’s shoulder and crept over the goal line at 9:42 of the second period.

Lorenz, a sophomore from Calgary and a Minnesota Wild draft pick, made it 2-0 with his 16th goal of the season at 15:16. The play was set up with a dynamic play by freshman defenseman Zeev Buium. Buium skated up the left wing boards, drew two BC players toward him, made a power turn toward the boards and then hit Lorenz with a no-look, behind-the-back pass. Lorenz got the puck between the faceoff dot and the hash mark to the right of Fowler and beat him with a shot over his right shoulder.

That was more than enough support for Davis, who was named the Frozen Four MVP after being named the regional MVP. In four NCAA tournament games, Davis, a junior from Calgary, stopped 153 of 157 shots in the national tournament.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. >> Scottie Scheffler made one last birdie and let out one big exhale Saturday on a wild day of charges and collapses at the Masters, giving him a 1-under 71 and a one-shot lead over two-time major champion Collin Morikawa.

Scheffler began by chipping in for birdie from across the first green. He finished with an 8-foot birdie putt that caught just enough of the right side of the cup.

Everything in between was bonkers, right to the very end. Bryson DeChambeau drove into the right trees on the 18th, pitched out to the fairway and then holed out from 77 yards for a most unlikely birdie that might have salvaged his chances.

Six players had at least a tie for the lead at one point.

There was a five-way tie for the lead on back nine. Morikawa looked to break out of the tie when he had a long eagle putt on the par-5 13th. He three-putted for par, and then the other four players all made bogey.

Max Homa has gone 32 holes without a birdie and he was only two behind. Xander Schauffele has gone 25 holes without a bogey, and that goes a long way. He was five back.

Augusta National didn’t need a ferocious wind to be wildly entertaining. The course was tough as ever, with a wind that would have felt scary if not for the day before.

Scheffler was at 7-under 209 as he goes for a second Masters green jacket and tries to extend a dominant stretch that includes two wins on tough courses and a runner-up finish in his last three tournaments.

“It’s nice to have that experience, but going into tomorrow, that’s really all that it is,” he said. “And I can reflect on some of that stuff from that round, and this is a position I’m very familiar with. I’m excited for the challenge of going and trying to win the golf tournament tomorrow.”

Morikawa made two tough pars to finish off a 69, making him the only player to break par all three days at this Masters. Not bad for a someone who only found a swing key on Monday, switched putters after the first round and has had a top 10 since the first week of the year.

“If you asked me at the beginning of the week I’d be one back heading into Sunday, I would have taken that any time,” Morikawa said. “You give yourself a chance with 18 holes left, that’s all you can really do.”

Another shot back was Homa (73), whose last birdie was on the fourth hole of the second round. He has made 32 pars in his last 36 holes. Eight players were separated by five shots going into the final round, where the greens are likely to be even faster, crispier and more frightening.

Tiger Woods was not among them. Neither was Rory McIlroy.

Woods, having made his Masters record 24th consecutive cut on Friday, started the third round seven shots out of the lead and hopeful of at least making his massive following think there might be more magic left in that battered 48-year-old body.

Instead, Woods posted his highest round in three decades playing the majors. He shot an 82, the third time he has failed to break 80 in a major, and the first since the 2015 U.S. Open.

“Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it,” Woods said.

McIlroy came to the Masters thinking this might be the year he finally got the last leg of the career Grand Slam. All he could muster was a 71 that left him 10 shots behind with 20 players in front of him.

There were no shortage of challengers.

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