Wild vs. Avalanche Game 5: Takeaways as Minnesota blows 3-goal lead, Colorado advances to West final
DENVER — The Minnesota Wild tried to play a 40-minute penalty kill on Wednesday night to extend their second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche to Game 6.
That’s not a good strategy, especially when your penalty kill is historically bad.
After building a 3-0 first-period lead, the Wild sat back for two periods, and, imagine this, it didn’t work against the NHL’s best team during the regular season and most lethal offensive attack.
The Avalanche stormed back with a Parker Kelly second-period goal, then goals by Jack Drury with 3:33 left and Nathan MacKinnon with an extra attacker on with 1:23 left to force overtime.
Then Brett Kulak scored 3:52 into OT to catapult the Avs into the Western Conference final against either the Vegas Golden Knights or Anaheim Ducks — and end the Wild’s season heartbreakingly in a 4-3 loss.
“You always like to dream about it, but the player I am, I’m not the guy everyone’s looking down the bench like, ‘All right, get out there and go win it for us,’” Kulak said. “A special goal in my career, for sure.”
The goal came directly after Kirill Kaprizov, who had no shots in the game, couldn’t connect with Matt Boldy on a two-on-one.
“I think every one of us had a strong belief that we were going to bring this back to St. Paul,” goalie Jesper Wallstedt said. “We all got here with one goal in mind. It was just one game. Win one game. I think we were all sure that we were gonna go here and win today.
“Felt like we really, really had an effort that could win us a game, but today it just wasn’t enough.”
It’s the first time the Wild have ever blown a three-goal lead to lose a playoff game and the fourth time Colorado has come back from three goals down to win a playoff game. Colorado closed out a series at home for the first time since 2008.
Even with their foot off the gas, the Wild were defending well in the third and still had a two-goal lead late. Ryan Hartman’s careless icing after Nick Foligno blocked a shot with 3:42 left flipped the script. It led to a defensive-zone draw late in the third period. Drury beat Hartman on the ensuing faceoff, and nine seconds later, the deficit was one.
MacKinnon then extended his goal streak to six games by finding the tiniest of holes inside the post to beat Wallstedt, who had been solid up to that goal.
“You work all year for one thing, and just feels like it closes like that, and it’s just done, it sucks,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “They deserved to win this series, plain and simple. That’s just where it just gets frustrating, right? Because when we are at our absolute best, I think we can beat this team. Just they were more consistent.”
For the Wild, Nico Sturm assisted on each of Nick Foligno’s first-period goals as the veteran put up his second career two-goal playoff game.
Quinn Hughes, who was already the first defenseman in NHL history to record at least 10 assists in his first three postseasons, picked up his 15th point of the playoffs. He became the second-fastest American defenseman in NHL history to 15 points in a postseason behind Brian Leetch (nine games in 1994). His 11 assists this postseason are a new Wild record.
Back to Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood waited four long weeks to get the Avalanche net back. It took just a few days for him to lose it.
Blackwood, who came on in relief of Scott Wedgewood midway through Game 3, then won Game 4 with a solid effort, was back on the bench at the start of the second period of Game 5, having given up three goals on 13 shots. He looked uncomfortable from the start, with the Wild testing him three times in the first shift of the game and Johansson beating him clean from the slot 34 seconds in.
Blackwood was actually beaten four times in the period, but Michael McCarron’s goal was overturned after the situation room determined he batted it in with his hand.
Wedgewood was perfect in his return to the net, though he wasn’t tested often, saving all seven shots he faced.
The Avalanche’s journeyman goalie duo won the Jennings Trophy this season, allowing the fewest goals in the league, but this is uncharted territory for both. Wedgewood took the No. 1 job with a stellar .921 save percentage in the regular season, but he has now played in 53 games this season, including the postseason. He had never appeared in more than 32 games in his decade-long NHL career. — Lazerus
MacKinnon turns the tide
MacKinnon was the reason the game got to overtime, and he was also a big reason the Avalanche were even in the game to begin with. Frustrated by repeated rushes being disrupted by the Wild’s quick sticks, a scowling MacKinnon dragged his team back into the fight during the period.
MacKinnon had five shots on goal and eight attempts in the second alone, helping tilt the ice in Colorado’s favor. The Avalanche out-attempted Minnesota 32-8 in the second, though only nine of those shots were on goal. According to NHL analyst Mike Kelly, the Avalanche had a 9-0 edge in high-danger chances and a 15-2 edge in slot-driving plays to go with a 4-0 edge in chances off turnovers.
The Wild, meanwhile, spent the second just trying to loft the puck into the neutral zone to catch a change and a breather. But Minnesota routinely broke up Avalanche passes and shot attempts with quick sticks and savvy plays. Kaprizov blocked two shots in a row and gritted through the pain, and Johansson managed to skate stride-for-stride with Makar as he wheeled around behind the Wild net without resorting to a stick foul or a holding penalty.
That, combined with Wallstedt’s stout play, was enough to preserve the Minnesota lead in the face of the Avalanche push — temporarily, as it turned out. MacKinnon, it seems, is inevitable. — Lazerus
A goal Wild fans will remember
Wild fans will be replaying MacKinnon’s overtime-forcing goal forever. It looked like Sturm had the passing lane, and Jake Middleton — on the ice for an unbelievable 13 goals in the series, including Kulak’s winner — was caught in between.
And in the end, MacKinnon made the Wild pay with a perfect shot inside the post.
“Obviously, that one hurts a lot,” Wallstedt said. “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.” — Russo
Makar injury
Avs superstar defenseman Cale Makar left the game midway through the third period, favoring his right arm after an awkward collision with Wild winger Mats Zuccarello. Earlier in the game, he’d been shown on the broadcast rubbing the same area in discomfort.
Makar, the two-time Norris Trophy winner and 2026 finalist, was out for two weeks near the end of the regular season with a right shoulder injury suffered March 30 against Calgary, after a hit by Adam Klapka. He also briefly left Game 1 after taking a hit from Marcus Foligno to the same shoulder.
Makar returned and finished the game with 25:50 in ice time. — Lazerus
Sturm, Foligno lead Wild’s bounce-back first
After Game 4, Sturm led the charge in saying that the Wild had deserved to lose, turning over way too many pucks at the blue lines. “You might have to dump in a puck and get it back,” he said.
On Tuesday, Marcus Foligno agreed with Hynes that the Wild did not put on their work boots in Game 4 and follow the game plan, saying they played too east-west and were in a “brain fog.”
They talked the talk, and early in Game 5, at least, they walked the walk. Those two and fellow fourth-liner Nick Foligno led the way to the 3-0 lead, with Sturm having a tremendous opening period that led to a pair of Nick Foligno goals — Foligno’s first two-goal playoff game in eight years.
Nick and Marcus Foligno, who scored in Game 1, became the first brothers to score a goal for the same team in a playoff series since Daniel and Henrik Sedin with the Canucks in the 2015 first round. Nick (38 years, 194 days) also became the fifth player in history with multiple goals when facing elimination at 38 or older.
Sturm was also terrific on a second-period penalty kill as the Wild clung to a 3-1 lead. He twice disrupted power-play entries by MacKinnon.
But both Nick Foligno and Sturm were on the ice for the Avalanche’s tying goal. Nick Foligno was on the ice for the final two Colorado goals in regulation to force overtime. — Russo
Eriksson Ek and Brodin missed
With Joel Eriksson Ek sidelined for the entire series and Minnesota needing to get star Matt Boldy going, the deadline addition McCarron took Danila Yurov’s place, with Yurov pivoting Vladimir Tarasenko and Yakov Trenin.
Not exactly how the Wild drew it up when they acquired McCarron as a depth piece at the deadline, but it worked well early. On the opening shift, McCarron won the draw, Boldy dumped the puck in and the Wild got on the board, with Johansson giving them the lead 34 seconds in.
It was the NHL’s fastest goal from the start of a contest by a team facing elimination since Devon Toews (0:23 in Game 6 in the 2021 second round).
But while Boldy played his best hockey of the series early, he and the Wild clearly missed Eriksson Ek — as well as defensive defenseman Jonas Brodin — as the lead slipped away.
McCarron finished the game without a point, was on for Kelly’s goal and swung and missed on a potential winning goal seconds into overtime. And Boldy was on for Kelly’s goal and Kulak’s. Middleton again played big minutes with Brodin out and went minus-2 to finish the series minus-7. — Smith and Russo
Did Wild sit back?
The Wild had seven shots in the last 43:52 and 17.3 percent of the expected-goals share after the first period, per Natural Stat Trick. Were they too passive?
“I think it’s a combination of, you’re thinking too much, ‘Don’t give them anything,’” Zuccarello said. “And you start maybe don’t make the plays you need to make against a good team like this. The human brain works sometimes like that. You’re too worried about not letting goals in that you forget about playing the game at times. I think we came out flying and did a hell of a job in the way we wanted to play. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to give them credit
“I think it’s just that offensive mind, keep going, get 4-0, get 5-0, instead of being on the cautious side.”
“I think the second (period), we could have done more with O-zone time,” Marcus Foligno said. “We had a lot of pucks that we just threw away and weren’t really supporting. That was the biggest thing, the second period. If we had a better second period, we might have had more gas. That’s just what happens. You get momentum in a game, especially in the playoffs, it can propel you to making a comeback.”
