With a crowd in excess of 19,000 screaming fans, the Wild put forth a brilliant effort, but in the end it was the experience and poise of the Colorado veterans that sunk them. Joe Sakic scored just over eight and a half minutes into overtime to send the Wild faithful home without the expected victory.
The Wild played outstanding hockey for the first two periods, and it is definitely something to build on. They were getting their shots, connecting on hits, and making great passes, but it took a long time before bounces started coming their way. The Wild dominated the first period where they out-shot the Avalanche 11-2, most of those shots coming on the powerplay. Although they didn't connect on either PP opportunity, the Wild had a ton of momentum to build on going into the second. The first period was played with intense physicality, and it was definitely fun to watch. The Wild came out swinging, and it was apparent right from the get-go. Todd Fedoruk, Derek Boogaard, and even Martin Skoula were throwing guys into the boards from the opening whistle. Going into the second frame, the fans had every reason to believe the Wild would be the first to strike, but it didn't go that way.
Although it was fairly obvious from their first period powerplays that the Wild weren't having much luck, the second period brought about even more unfortunate bounces. It didn't take long for the Avalanche to capitalize on a Wild mistake after the drop of the puck. Just 1:29 into the second, Sakic carried the puck through the neutral zone and sped up the left side. Following close behind him was Minnesota-native Kurt Sauer, who took a beautiful drop-pass from Sakic and shot top-shelf to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead in the game. The Wild continued to dominate the game for the next ten minutes, but again nothing was falling for them. After coming close multiple times, the Wild got another unlucky break when Ryan Smyth took a pass from Jeff Finger and fired one past Niklas Backstrom to put Colorado up 2-0 with the second starting to wind down. The Wild continued to pepper Colorado goalie Jose Theodore, but Theodore was holding strong, turning away all 9 shots the Wild had in the second. Down by 2 going into the locker room after two strong periods, the Wild may have been down, but they were far from out.
Again the Wild came out swinging in the third, and it didn't take long for it to finally pay off. The Wild took advantage of a good bounce when Mikko Koivu threw the puck in front of the Colorado net and the puck bounced off of an Avalanche defender and past Theodore to cut the Colorado lead to 2-1 just over 3 minutes into the period. With the momentum back in hand, the Wild went at it again. Knowing they could get one past Theodore seemed like it gave them confidence, and that confidence paid off again just 3 minutes later when Todd Fedoruk camped in front of the net and took a pass from Petteri Nummelin and then backhanded it past Theodore to bring the Wild into a tie with the Avalanche. After the game-tying goal, the Wild seemed to go into their "shutdown" mode, where they try more to prevent a goal then to score one. It ended up working for most of the period, but towards the end it almost cost them. With the Avalanche deep in the Wild zone and pressuring Backstrom, a big pile gathered in front of the net and Wild defensemen Keith Carney was caught covering the puck inside his own crease, therefore giving the Avs a penalty shot. Taking the shot for Colorado was Ryan Smyth, who was 3 for 4 in his career in penalty shots, and in net for the Wild was Backstrom. Smyth carried the puck in and made a move to Backstroms right. Backstrom followed him and threw his leg down to block Smyth's "shot," which wasn't a shot at all, just a little bit of a push of the puck which Backs threw aside to keep the game in a 2-2 tie. The remaining 3 minutes or so of the game remained deadlocked, but the Avs definitely had more chances. Going into overtime, it was obvious the game could go either way.
Once OT started, both teams seemed to have new life. Everybody had their legs back, and the game was moving fast once again. Each team had their chances, but neither cashed in, at least not right away. At the 11:11 mark of the 4th frame, Sakic parked himself in front the Wild net and waited for a shot. That shot came from Ruslan Salei, who fired one that bounced off of Martin Skoula's skate and right to Sakic's backhand. Sakic fired the puck home and sent the Avalanche back to their hotel with a 3-2 victory and a 1-0 series lead to work with.
This was a very entertaining game to watch, but unfortunately it didn't turn out the way I was hoping. I damn near had an aneurysm multiple times during the game, including Fedoruk's game-tying goal and Smyth's penalty-shot miss. Although I would like the Wild to win games by a comfortable margin the rest of the series, if the games keep going like this it will definitely be one of the more interesting series of this years playoffs.
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