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Wild season ends in 4-3 overtime loss to Avalanche in NHL Playoffs
Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes spoke to reporters after Wednesday night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The Wild's season is over after losing the series 4-1.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A three-goal lead wasn’t enough for the Minnesota Wild to extend its Stanley Cup Playoff run Wednesday night.
The Wild scored three-first period goals, but the Avalanche scored the last four, including the game-winner in overtime, to end the Wild’s season in the Western Conference Semifinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Wild lose the best-of-seven series 4-1, and the Avalanche will face the Vegas Golden Knights/Anaheim Ducks winner to go to the Stanley Cup Final.
After having a 3-0 first period lead, the Wild's season ends in heartbreak.
"The guys laid it on the line and when you go after something like this, there’s going to be two sides of the coin. One is you’re going to win and it’s a great feeling, the other is you lose and it’s an empty feeling," Wild coach John Hynes said.
Avalanche win 4-3 in overtime
The big play:
Kirill Kaprizov passed on a shot in overtime, and Matt Boldy whiffed on a one-timer. The Avalanche took it the other way, and Brett Kulak beat Jesper Wallstedt off a feed from Martin Necas at the 3:52 mark for the game-winner. It's Kulak's fourth career playoff goal in 107 postseason games, and first playoff game-winner.
Kaprizov was second in the NHL with 15 points during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and had an assist in Game 5. But he didn't register a single shot on goal.
Wild gets off to fast start
The backstory:
The Wild couldn’t have asked for a better start in an elimination game. They scored 34 seconds into the game, with Marcus Johansson finding the net on assists from Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes. The Wild is 4-1 in the playoffs when they score first.
Nick Foligno scored one goal in 27 regular season games with the Wild after being acquired in a trade. He scored a pair in the first period Monday night. Foligno gave the Wild a 2-0 lead at the 11:03 mark on assists from Nico Sturm and Boldy.
Less than five minutes later, Foligno got his second after Sturm’s initial shot was saved, but he found Foligno across the crease on the rebound for a tap-in goal. It gave the Wild a 3-0 lead at the 15:56 mark, and prompted the Avalanche to pull starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood for the rest of the game.
Colorado forces OT with 2 third period goals
The other side:
The Avalanche dominated the second period with a 33-8 advantage in shot attempts and spent most of the frame in the Wild’s zone, but only got one goal to show for it.
Parker Kelly re-directed a Brent Burns shot at the 11:00 mark to cut the Wild’s lead to 3-1. The Wild killed a penalty in the final three minutes to have a two-goal lead at the second intermission.
The Avalanche got within 3-2 at 16:27 of the third period. Chris Drury re-directed a Devon Toews shot for a goal, making the final three minutes tense for the Wild. With the Avalance goalie pulled, Nathan MacKinnon tied the game 3-3 with 1:23 left in regulation, beating Jesper Wallstedt with a wrist shot on his stick side.
Colorado forced the extra session with two goals in a span of 2 minutes, 10 seconds.