A three-goal, first period lead wasn't enough for the Minnesota Wild to keep their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes alive as the Colorado Avalanche rallied to a 4-3 OT win to eliminate the Wild in Game 5 Western Conference Second Round in Denver on Wednesday.
Minnesota made it 1-0 early with a Marcus Johansson goal 34 seconds into the first period, followed by a Nick Foligno goal to make it 2-0, and Foligno added his second goal of the first period at 15:56 to make it 3-0.
Colorado struck in the second to make it 3-1 and cut the lead to one at 16:27 in the third period. Nathon MacKinnon then tied it at 18:37 ultimately forcing OT, where Brett Kulak connected to give the Avalanche a 4-3 win and a 4-1 series win.
“Obviously, that one hurts a lot,” said Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt about the third period, game-equalizing goal. “I haven't looked at it, but it felt like I was in good position. It felt like I had the right read. Maybe I was a little passive or went down a little quick, but also he picked his corner, and I think in the long run, that's a save I make most of the time, but not today. Today, he scored. That one definitely hurts a lot to me.”
The Avalanche will play either the Vegas Golden Knights or Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Finals. Game six between the Knights and Ducks is Thursday night.
“When you go after something like this, right, there's going to be two sides of the coin. One is you're going to win, which is a great feeling, and when you lose, it's an empty feeling,” said Wild coach John Hynes said. “It's a little raw right now. But as I said earlier, I think this group was a highly competitive group throughout the year, stuck together, went through the ups and the downs, and I think we'll take a look at the first series (a 4-2 series win against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference First Round) and take lessons out of that. And I think you're going to take some things out of this, and then you have to move forward.”
