ST. PAUL, Minn. — On a gorgeous spring day, West 7th Street in front of Grand Casino Arena was hopping Saturday afternoon with a street party full of enthusiastic Minnesota Wild fans anxiously awaiting a home second-round game for the first time in 12 years.
One fan vowed to a reporter walking in, “The series starts tonight.”
The reporter may have joked, “Or ends.”
It’s never over ‘til it’s over, but the Wild weren’t going to beat the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche four games in a row if they dug themselves a 3-0 series hole Saturday night.
Well, now we indeed have a series.
Looking much more like themselves and playing with a Game 7 mentality, the Wild came out of the gates flying in Game 3, outhitting the Avalanche 18-8 in the first period and ultimately outscoring them 5-1 in the game to cut the Avalanche’s series lead to 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Monday.
Kirill Kaprizov scored a goal and had two assists for his third three-point game of the postseason, top defense pair Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber combined for two goals and three assists, Ryan Hartman scored a power-play goal that chased Scott Wedgewood in the second period and Matt Boldy added an empty-netter.
Jesper Wallstedt, back in net after allowing eight goals in Game 1 and getting a mental reset in Game 2, made 34 saves.
The Wild, who outhit Colorado 39-25 led by a combined 15 by Marcus and Nick Foligno, have won six of their past eight Game 3s when trailing a series 2-0, and their lone series win when trailing 2-0 came in the 2014 Western Conference quarterfinals against Colorado in seven games.
The Avs were handed their first loss in seven playoff games this year.
Kaprizov leads all NHL playoff scorers with 14 points, which is tied with Zach Parise for second-most in Wild history in a single postseason. Hughes and Faber each have four goals this postseason, tied for most in Wild history in a single postseason for defensemen.
Four-on-four goes disastrously for Colorado
The Wild felt they made the proper adjustments in Game 2 to turn their five-on-five game into more of an even game with Colorado.
But after a strong, physical start Saturday in which they had a flurry of chances on Wedgewood, you could sense that the door would swing open for the Wild when referee Kelly Sutherland took Hartman and Parker Kelly to their respective boxes for a four-on-four.
It took just 17 seconds for Kaprizov to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead, a good sign since the Wild are 4-0 this postseason when scoring first. Michael McCarron came out for the defensive-zone draw, won it and skated right to the bench for a Matt Boldy change. By that time, Faber was already flying up the ice. He crossed the blue line, handed off to Kaprizov, and the superstar took it right up the gut for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Devon Toews then turned the four-on-four into a four-on-three by hooking Boldy. Just 1:33 after the Kaprizov goal, Hughes toe-dragged to the middle of the ice, created a shooting lane for himself and wristed a shot inside the far post for his fourth goal and a 2-0 lead. — Russo
Wild make penalty kill adjustments
Entering the game with a 59.1 percent kill in the playoffs, the Wild were riding the worst penalty kill by a team that advanced past the first round since the league began charting kills in 1978.
The big issues? The Avs’ double neutral-zone drop, protecting the middle of the ice and getting saves, with the Wild’s two goalies riding a save percent of 62.5 percent.
The Wild’s kill went 2-for-3 the game — Nathan MacKinnon poked home a rebound after Daemon Hunt
shoved Gabriel Landeskog into Wallstedt, taking him out of the play on the one Avs power-play goal — but most importantly, they went 2-for-2 in the first period, with Wallstedt making four saves. The kills preserved a 0-0 tie and 2-0 lead.
Then, in the second, when the Wild did give up the MacKinnon power-play goal (the Wild have allowed at least one power-play goal in all nine playoff games), it took Faber just 20 seconds to respond for a 4-1 lead.
It was clear the Wild pressured up ice a little more, had good gaps after the double drop and didn’t allow the first puck carrier to push them back. In-zone, the Wild killers left the goal-line plays to Wallstedt and protected the middle of the ice.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s penalty kill had its first blemishes of the series. The Wild were 2-for-26 in their past seven games entering the game, but they picked up the four-on-three goal, then Hartman’s power-play goal when he was allowed to camp out in front of the net and redirect Mats Zuccarello’s shot past Wedgewood. It came after Boldy stick-handled in a phone booth and then a sensational pass to Zuccarello from Kaprizov. — Russo and Baugh
Wallstedt stands tall
After the surprising goalie switch for Game 2, Wallstedt got the nod for Saturday’s Game 3. And the Wild rookie goaltender looked a lot like he did during an impressive first-round series victory over the Dallas Stars: calm, confident and clutch, with some timely saves before Minnesota blew the game open.
Wallstedt, who allowed a career-high eight goals in Game 1, said he learned from that experience and understood why the Wild gave him a breather and played Filip Gustavsson in Game 2. Wallstedt was sharp from the get-go on Saturday, including buoying the Wild in killing two first-period Avalanche power plays.
And, with the game still 0-0 midway through the first, Wallstedt made a huge save, getting his glove on a partial breakaway by Kelly, with the puck then hitting the post and harmlessly going wide. If the Avalanche had scored there, especially after such a furious initial push by Minnesota, who knows where the game would have gone.
Coach John Hynes entered the game confident Wallstedt would rebound.
“He played six unbelievable games (in the first round),” Hynes said., “That’s why he can come back — he played six unbelievable games. He won a series. That (9-6) game was a one-off. To me, it’s not so much, ‘Well, how’s does he bounce back off a tough game?’ Let’s take it this way: six great ones to one that wasn’t on him. So there’s a confidence built up in there, you know?
“I think that’s where it’s glass half-full, glass half-empty. We can focus on the loss, or we can focus on the six wins.” — Smith
Bednar makes first in-game goalie change of series
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has been insistent that he’s comfortable playing both of his Jennings-winning goalies in these playoffs. He hadn’t needed to until Saturday night, when he pulled Wedgewood following Minnesota’s third goal, drawing “Weeeeedge-woooooood” chants from the crowd.
Mackenzie Blackwood entering the game served multiple purposes. Bednar both put in the goalie he felt gave him the best chance to win that night, and he also got Blackwood some action for the first time since April 14. If Blackwood starts Game 4, he won’t be going in cold like Gustavsson did in Game 2. Gustavsson hadn’t played since April 13 before allowing five goals earlier in that one.
Along with the goalie change, Bednar shook up his lines. Landeskog moved onto the top line with MacKinnon and Martin Nečas. The line rewarded Bednar with an extended offensive zone shift but didn’t manage to finish.
Avs defenseman Josh Manson (upper-body injury) remained out for Game 3, but he went through morning skate and Bednar said he felt confident the defenseman would play at some point in Minnesota, so barring a setback, he’s likely to be back for Game 4. Another indication of that being the expectation was that Colorado decided not to bring extra defenseman Jack Ahcan — who took warmups as a potential option ahead of Game 2 — on the trip, allowing him to stay with the AHL Colorado Eagles, who are in the playoffs. Blankenburg only played 7:50 in the game. — Baugh
Eriksson Ek out, Wild lineup changes
The Wild didn’t get Joel Eriksson Ek back for Saturday’s game, though the team’s top two-way center hasn’t been ruled out for Monday’s Game 4.
“I would classify him as day-to-day,” Hynes said.
Eriksson Ek participated in Friday’s practice, his first time on the ice since suffering a lower-body injury sliding awkwardly into the boards in Game 6 against the Stars. The Wild kept their forward lines the same, with Danila Yurov in Eriksson Ek’s spot on the second line.
Hynes did tweak his defense pairings, though. Hunt moved up to the second pair with captain Jared Spurgeon, with Jake Middleton dropping to the third pair with Zach Bogosian. Heading into Saturday’s game, of the 12 non-empty-net goals the Avalanche had scored, Middleton was on the ice for nine of them, Spurgeon for eight.
“I think it’s just a little look for both pairs,” Hynes said before the game. “Middleton and (Bogosian), they have some good chemistry together. I think (Hunt) has played pretty well. Let’s see what he and (Spurgeon) look like and we’ll go from there.”
Bogosian returned to the lineup after missing Game 2 with a lingering lower-body injury. The three days between games did help Bogosian heal.
“It’s been a good week for me,” Bogosian said. “So hopefully keep building off that. This time of year, if you’re not banged up, you’re probably playing the wrong way. This is what we do. This is what we play for.” — Smith
