ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Backs to the wall. Now or never. Win or else.
Pick your cliché... they all work for the Wild.
Two days after giving themselves new life in their Stanley Cup playoff series against Colorado, the Wild were vastly outplayed in Monday's 5-2 loss to the Avalanche in St. Paul.
The Avs now lead the best-of-seven second-round series 3-1, and can clinch Wednesday night in Denver.
A win by the Wild in game five would not only keep them alive in the post season, but it would bring the series back to Minnesota for game six.
“The style of game that we needed to play to win the game, we didn’t,” coach John Hynes said. “We made the conscious choice not to play that way tonight, so we’ll readdress that and then we’ll get ready for Game 5.”
After leading the NHL in goals during the regular season while posting the league’s best record, the Avalanche scored 14 times over the first two games before Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt stonewalled them in Game 3.
But Ross Colton, whose wrist shot was set up by a slick across-the-slot pass by linemate Nicolas Roy, became the 15th player to score for the Avalanche in just eight postseason games this spring. Then Parker Kelly made it 16.
Both goals came in the third period after Nico Sturm tied the score at 2-2.
That came after the Wild were outshot 20-4 over roughly the first half of the game by an energized Colorado offense.
“They were doing a lot of what we want to do — quick with the puck, get it down deep, work our players down low,” Wallstedt said. “They got a lot of pucks to the net. They were creating rebounds. They were creating scoring chances. We want to do the exact same thing. It just took a little longer for us to get there.”
Ross Colton and Parker Kelly each scored in the third period for Colorado, an opportune time for their first goals of the postseason.
“It’s just about staying ready,” Kelly said, “and all these guys in here are ready.”
Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves in his first start this postseason after relieving Scott Wedgewood during a 5-1 loss in Game 3 on Saturday.
“You’re never going to be perfect after 30 days off, so I just try to do my best to stay sharp,” said Blackwood, who learned the day before he would be starting.
Nazem Kadri scored on a power play in the second period, and Nathan MacKinnon — who had a brief absence to fix a bloody nose from a puck to the face — and Warroad native Brock Nelson added empty-net goals in the final minute.
Rookie Danila Yurov scored his first career postseason goal on a deflection midway through the first period for the Wild during a four-minute power play prompted by a double minor penalty on defenseman Josh Manson, but they failed to consistently get pucks deep into the offensive zone and allowed their crowd-noise advantage to all but disappear during their slog of a second period before coming to life down the stretch.
