St. Paul, Minn. – Perhaps only some of the many ironworkers in this state hit more iron last season than Joe Sakic.
Sakic had his usual superb season with a team-leading 87 points and nine more in nine playoff games. When it came to his success rate in the NHL’s new shootout format, however, Sakic was an ugly – and loud – 0-for-7. The loud part came from all the goalposts and crossbars he struck.
So, when Sakic saw the puck hit the soft plastic of goaltender Niklas Backstrom’s water bottle in the shootout Saturday night, he lifted his arms just a little higher than usual in celebration. Not only did it get him off the schneid in shootouts, it proved the game-winning play in the Avalanche’s tough 2-1 victory over the Northwest Division leading Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
“Not that anybody was counting,” Sakic said with his usual dry humor about his streak of futility. “But, yes, it felt pretty good. It was an important (extra) point for us. We hung on to get it to a shootout, and it was a big win for us.”
Sakic’s shootout goal, a backhander that beat Backstrom clean after the puck appeared to roll slightly off Sakic’s stick on his approach, got the Avs back to .500 at 9-9-2 and was their second win in as many nights.
“Hopefully we can build something off this,” Sakic said. “The third period, they started coming, but (goalie Peter Budaj) was terrific tonight.”
Sakic scored Colorado’s only goal in regulation, an easy tap-in in the first period that held up until the 14:08 mark of the third.
That’s when Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu had a pretty tip-in of a Brian Rolston slap shot, the only blemish against Budaj, who had 28 saves.
When the shootout began, Avs coach Joel Quenneville went with Wojtek Wolski, Marek Svatos and Sakic as his first three shooters. Wolski beat Backstrom clean with a deke to his forehand, while Budaj stopped the dangerous Pavol Demitra with Minnesota’s first shootout shot. After Svatos missed, Koivu tied up the shootout 1-1, but Sakic broke the tie and Budaj made a pad stop of Rolston’s backhand bid, and the game was over.
Budaj won for the first time in a shootout, after losing all five he played in last season.
“I’m very excited to win one,” Budaj said. “I tried to be more patient and not back up as much as I did last year. On the Koivu goal, I was cheating a little bit to the left side and thought he’d go backhand. But overall, we got a big win, and the guys did a very good job in front of me.”
Quenneville said he’ll decide today who plays in net in Dallas on Monday night. It’s clear he’s high on Budaj again, however, after sitting him out five straight games following back-to-back losses.
“Certainly, he came in and really took charge in the net,” Quenneville said. “The puck seemed like it had Velcro on it with him. He didn’t give any rebounds.”
Said Sakic, “Peter’s seeing the puck real well right now. He’s real square and playing great.”
Wild coach Jacques Lemaire also praised Budaj.
“The goaltender played really well for them,” Lemaire said. “I thought we played a good game tonight, but just one of those things. We couldn’t find the net.”
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
