Wild vs. Avalanche Game 1: Takeaways as Colorado wins 15-goal slugfest to open heavyweight series

DENVER — What we learned Sunday night is that the Minnesota Wild aren’t going to dominate the high-flying Colorado Avalanche at even strength the way they did the Dallas Stars.

After giving up four five-on-five goals in six games against the Stars, Jesper Wallstedt and the Wild — playing without two of their best defensive players in Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin — gave up seven five-on-five goals and nine total Sunday night at Ball Arena. In an absolutely wild 9-6 Colorado win, it felt like the Avs generated more scoring chances and odd-man rushes in three periods than Minnesota gave up all series against Dallas.

“I don’t think we’ve done that all year, but they came out strong,” said Wild winger Mats Zuccarello, who pulled the Wild within one with 3:59 left in the third — before Avs defenseman Cale Makar scored his second of the game a minute later. “It was 9-6, but we were one goal back with three minutes left. So even though we played bad defensively, we still stayed in it until the end. But, for sure, I think we all were not happy about letting in so many goals.

“We have to help out Wally. Not good enough.”

The Wild, after serving up a 3-0 first-period lead, not only chipped away to tie the score at 4 but even took a short-lived lead on Marcus Foligno’s short-handed goal before the Avalanche tied the score just 1:09 later on Devon Toews’ goal and stormed to victory from there.

Had the Wild completed the comeback, it would have been the first time in franchise history that they rallied from a three-goal deficit to win a playoff game.

“If you scripted that one, I don’t know how you do,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I can’t explain it.”

Makar’s goal plus one from Nazem Kadri early in the third period helped the Avalanche improve to a 5-0 record this postseason.

The Avalanche would add an empty-netter for a ninth goal — the most goals the Wild have ever allowed in a playoff game and the most the Avs have ever scored in a playoff game.

The 15 total goals tied for fifth in history in a Stanley Cup playoff game.

Wallstedt, who was a standout for Minnesota in the first round, gave up a career-high eight goals. The most he’d previously allowed was seven in his NHL debut in January 2024.

From Colorado’s perspective, the game was a drastic turn from the low-scoring Los Angeles Kings first-round series. Colorado loved its checking game that series; the Wild made it much harder to effectively defend in Game 1.

But the Avs, in turn, showed Sunday just how much scoring depth they have.

They got goals from eight players and points from 13, including 4 from Toews, 3 each from MacKinnon, Makar and Martin and 2 each from Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski.

Quinn Hughes had a goal and an assist for Minnesota. He became the fastest player in Wild history to 10 playoff points (seven games).

Game 2 will be back in Denver on Tuesday.

Jesper Wallstedt, Scott Wedgewood play ’80s hockey

Raise of hands: Who had 16 goals on their bingo card? In a wild turn from both teams’ first-round series, the high-scoring affair Sunday made for some rough stat lines for the two goaltenders, Wallstedt and Scott Wedgewood.

Wedgewood allowed only five goals in four games in Colorado’s sweep of L.A. Wallstedt was sensational in a six-game win over Dallas (2.05 goals-against average).

On Sunday, Wallstedt gave up three goals in a 2:11 span of the first period. Malinski beat him on a shot off the rush, Jack Drury slipped one by him after a turnover by Jake Middleton (minus-3 with Brodin’s usual partner, Jared Spurgeon), and Lehkonen scored after an unreal individual effort by MacKinnon.

Wedgewood coughed up that 3-0 lead, then a 4-2 lead. It was the first time Wedgewood allowed five goals or more since Jan. 29, and just the third time all year. Wallstedt hadn’t allowed five since Feb. 27 against the Utah Mammoth.

The Wedgewood goals, for the most part, weren’t awful, with Marcus Johansson scoring from the slot, Ryan Hartman converting a sick goal-mouth feed from Hughes, Vladimir Tarasenko scoring on a short break to the net, Hughes on a point shot through traffic, Marcus Foligno on a short-handed breakaway and Zuccarello from in close.

“It wasn’t his best (game),” Bednar said of his goalie. “That being said, on the defensive side of things, it was probably no one on our team’s best. I group him in with the rest of the team.”

Wedgewood posted a .950 save percentage and saved 7.18 goals more than expected in the first round, per Evolving Hockey. Wallstedt had a .924 save percentage against the Stars and was particularly excellent at five-on-five.

Moose’s moose-like short-handed goal

It looked like it was going to be a game changer for the Wild.

With the score tied at 4 and Brock Faber in the penalty box for the second time (six penalty minutes in the game), Gabriel Landeskog passed back to MacKinnon at the point. The puck slid by him, and Marcus Foligno realized he could hustle and turn it into a breakaway.

With older brother Nick Foligno on his left for a two-on-zero, it looked like Big Bro told Little Bro to drive and not worry about passing. Marcus bulled his way to the zone, deked and slipped a backhander by Wedgewood for a short-handed go-ahead goal before, in a very Foligno-like fashion, he crashed into the goal post and knocked it off its moorings.

“Just a little surprised, to be honest with you, just to see how they all stopped skating, and I just had a puck all by myself,” Foligno said. “And I saw Wedgewood wasn’t coming out, so just tried to get up there as fast as I could. Was thinking it might be a two-on-zero with my brother. He held off. He just said to take it, and just a good deke. I mean, I think he was thinking I was shooting, but he’s an aggressive goalie, and he’s got some good hands. So was able to sneak it by him in the short side post.”

Nick, acquired at the trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks, talked before Sunday’s game about just how special this whole experience has been for him and Marcus.

“It’s just been neat to see Marcus in this environment,” Nick said. “I know what he’s like as a player, but to see the respect that he has in the room, the way his teammates view him and to come in here and try to do something special together, it’s been really cool and something I don’t think we’ll ever take for granted.”

Regardless, three seconds after Faber’s penalty expired, Toews tied the score at 5 on a deflected shot.

Injury scare, playoff firsts and eventful night for Avs D

Malinski, who had a breakout season for Colorado, scored his first career playoff goal against his hometown team. The defenseman, who is from Lakeville, Minn., received a pass from Martin Nečas midway through the first and beat Wallstedt with a wrist shot. He punched the glass behind him. The goal came shortly after Makar temporarily left the game following a hit from Marcus Foligno behind the Colorado net.

Malinski was playing in Makar’s usual top-pairing spot with Toews. It was 1 of 2 Malinski points on the night. He picked up an assist in the second period. He also took a puck to the face and gushed blood over the ice before his shift ended.

Makar returned to the Avalanche bench toward the end of the first but did not take a shift before the end of the period. He appeared to test out his legs during a stoppage, then lingered on the ice after the period to try out a bit of extra skating.

“There aren’t too many guys this time of year that aren’t playing hurt and are digging in and playing through that stuff,” Bednar said. “I think they all deserve credit. Tonight it was Cale, tomorrow night it’ll be someone else.”

“I was just trying to get back and feel good,” Makar added.

The star defenseman started the second period, though, and quickly picked up a secondary assist on a Nick Blankenburg goal. In the third, he delivered a go-ahead goal, wristing a MacKinnon pass over Wallstedt’s blocker, then added another with 2:54 left.

Blankenburg, playing in place of the injured Josh Manson, had an eventful night. He joined the rush and finished a Nichushkin pass to put Colorado up 4-2. The goal was a highlight, but he was also on the ice for three goals against, including one on which Nick Foligno battled him out of the way to screen Wedgewood. Bednar gave him only two total shifts in the third period, and he played only 10:06.

Toews led all Avalanche defenseman with 4 points. In total, four Avalanche defensemen scored on the night, which is the most in franchise history. The only other teams to have as many defensemen score in a playoff game are the 1992 Kings, 1988 Boston Bruins and 1985 Minnesota North Stars, per NHL Stats.

The offense from Colorado’s defense shouldn’t come as a surprise. The team’s blueliners combined for 233 points during the regular season, which was first among all clubs.

Special teams battle

The Wild penalty kill and the Avalanche power play were struggling entering the second round. Colorado had only one power-play goal against the Kings, and the Wild struggled to contain an elite Stars power play, giving up 10. It was Dallas’ main source of offense in the series.

In the battle of the struggling units, Colorado took the early edge. Midway through the first period, MacKinnon danced through the Wild defense and put a shot on Wallstedt. The goalie made the initial save but allowed a rebound, which MacKinnon gathered. Instead of shooting again, as Wallstedt anticipated, he passed to a wide-open Lehkonen. The Finnish winger scored into the vacated net.

But Colorado’s second power play was disastrous, at least when the top unit was on the ice. The Foligno short-handed goal put Colorado behind.

The second unit bailed out the stars as a Toews shot sneaked past Wallstedt. It was technically after the power play expired but was, for all intents and purposes, a power-play goal.

For the Wild, Faber, despite no practices with the No. 1 unit, took Eriksson Ek’s spot on the top power play, giving the unit a right shot. Colorado’s penalty kill shut down the Wild on their three power-play opportunities. In fact, the Wild’s penalty kill outshot the power play 3-2.