St. Paul, Minn. ? It took a record-setting performance by one of the NHL’s best goalies to end the Minnesota Wild’s surprising season.

The third-year expansion Wild made NHL history by rallying from two 3-1 series deficits to win in the same postseason. But then they ran into Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who held the Wild to a single goal in the conference finals, and were swept by the Mighty Ducks.

The Wild ride is finally over.

“I’m very frustrated,” right wing Sergei Zholtok said. “But I’m also very proud of the guys in this dressing room, very proud of the Minnesota Wild organization. It’s fun to be a part of. It’s hard to believe that it’s over.”

Added center Darby Hendrickson: “It’s always tough to lose your last game, but a lot of players in here played extremely hard and should have their heads up.”

Most expected the sixth-seeded Wild eliminated quickly in the first round by Colorado. The Avalanche went up 3-1, but the Wild were buoyed by the performance of goalie Manny Fernandez and won three straight to advance.

Then they went down 3-1 in the second round to the Vancouver Canucks. And again, they got brilliant goaltending, this time from Dwayne Roloson, and productive offense to take three consecutive games and claim their improbable spot in the Western Conference finals.

So if anyone could rally from a 3-0 series deficit against the Ducks, it had to the Wild, right? Not with Giguere in the net.

“As soon as we hit this team here, it seems like the breaks were on one side,” coach Jacques Lemaire said of the Ducks.

Still, it was a memorable third season for Minnesota and its hockey-crazed fans, who watched the Wild get off to a fast start, finish 42-29-10-1 for 95 points, and bring the playoffs back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes for the first time since 1992.

“We have a lot of heart,” center Cliff Ronning said. “Maybe not as much talent as many teams; every game, a different player stepped up.”

The Minnesota Wild bench reacts during the final moments of Friday's Game 4 against the Mighty Ducks at the NHL Western Conference finals in Anaheim, Calif. The Wild lost the game, 2-1, and the series, 4-0.

Nine expansion teams have entered the league since 1991. Minnesota is one of only three of those to make the playoffs in its third year. San Jose was eliminated in the conference semifinals in 1994 and Florida reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1996.

The Wild still showed signs of their youth at times. Right wing Marian Gaborik, whose contract will be up for renewal, made his first All-Star appearance, but remained maddeningly inconsistent. He scored only four goals after the All-Star break.

Gaborik led the league with 17 points heading into the Anaheim series, but lost his flow against the Ducks and was criticized by Lemaire for trying to do too much.

The storybook season doesn’t mean there won’t be personnel issues this offseason. The biggest will be Fernandez, who’ll be a restricted free agent.

Minnesota’s two-headed goalie system was one of the major reasons for the Wild’s success. But it was Roloson the Wild chose to sign to a three-year, $2 million contract in March. And it was Roloson who Lemaire and general manager Doug Risebrough felt more comfortable with to start the playoffs against Colorado.

Fernandez, who came to Minnesota from Dallas and was the No. 1 goalie, rebounded from a rough 2001-02 season with his best career statistics in 2002-03. He started off hot before being sidelined because of a knee injury in January.

Other restricted free agents include Gaborik, Willie Mitchell, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Johnson, Andrei Zyuzin and Antti Laaksonen. Ronning will be the only unrestricted free agent.

And the team must decide whether to pick up options on Richard Park, Lubomir Sekeras and Brad Brown.

Risebrough and Lemaire have always made it clear they’ll stick to their original blueprint of establishing a team foundation by developing young players. The immediate future lies in players such as Gaborik, who’ll command a heftier salary, Dupuis, Nick Schultz, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Roloson.

The team has stocked its development affiliate in Houston with young talent, which means veterans Ronning, Bill Muckalt and Hendrickson eventually will be phased out.

Sticking to the blueprint also likely means Risebrough won’t be on the prowl for expensive, big-name free agents. Making the playoffs this season was a bonus for a general manager who at the beginning of the year said the goal was simply to improve as a team.

“We had a great season, and these guys battled,” Lemaire said. “We went in the playoffs and we were not supposed to win one game. I look at this team as guys that didn’t have a lot of experience and they lived through a lot in these playoffs and learned a lot.”