ST. PAUL, MINN. — Joe Sakic’s overtime goal gave the Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of a Western Conference quarterfinal series tonight at Xcel Energy Center.
The Avs blew a 2-0 third-period lead and lost a chance to win with 2:27 left in regulation when Ryan Smyth was awarded a rare penalty shot. Smyth’s shot was stopped by Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, and the Avs again nearly won it with about a minute left when Milan Hejduk had a shot graze off the crossbar.
Two shots are all the Avs put on Backstrom in the first period, and neither was anything close to resembling a good scoring chance. The Wild had 11, and several were excellent chances. But Jose Theodore was outstanding. Minnesota had two power plays, and put a lot of pressure on net, but Theodore stood tall.
So the Avs entered the dressing room lucky to be in a scoreless tie. That gave them time to catch their breath and come up with a better strategy to deal with Minnesota’s trap defense, and within the first two minutes they found a way.
Sakic broke in down the left side of the Wild zone and spotted a shockingly wide open Kurt Sauer, and the rarely scoring Avs defenseman chipped home Sakic’s crossing pass at 1:29 to make it 1-0. The play came with the teams skating 4-on-4, after Peter Forsberg and Brent Burns were sent to the box with separate minors.
After three consecutive Wild power plays in the game, the Avs finally got their first at the 11:11 mark of the second, and with three seconds left on the man-advantage, Ryan Smyth scored. Tipping home a Jeff Finger shot from the point, Smyth got his first goal in 10 games, and it was 2-0. To that point, the Avs still had just six shots.
The Wild got its first goal at 3:02 of the third, when Mikko Koivu’s crossing pass from the corner deflected in off the skate of Finger. Finger was trying to tie up Brian Rolston when the pass hit his left and into the net.
Then, light-scoring Wild forward Todd Fedoruk tied the game, after Avs defender Scott Hannan took his second penalty of the night, and elbow to the back of Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard. That was a killer penalty, as the Avs were still trying to gather themselves after the fluke first Wild goal, and were put on their heels.
