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Tee-Time with Tajen
Wild and Aves provide exciting first-round series
BY TAJEN STOCKDALE
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
iISSUE: 78/27
ASOOCIATED PRESS
Pierre-Marc Bouchard, left, and Martin Skoula celebrate a game-winning goal.
After yet another hard fought battle against the Colorado Avalanche, the Wild find themselves in a 2-2 series tie going into tonight’s game at the Excel Energy Center. The Stanley Cup Playoffs prove every year to be one of the greatest competitions in professional sports. The first three games of the seven game series held true to that fact. For the first time since 1991, the first three games of the playoff series went into overtime.
The Wild lost home ice advantage, when they lost game one of the series last Thursday, after Joe Sakic put the puck past Niklas Backstrom about half way through overtime. Saturday night’s game was similar. Though the Wild failed to score in the first two periods, they came back strong in the third. The Wild fell behind early in the first period on a goal by Peter Forsberg. Pavol Demitra, however, tied the game early in the third period, before Mikko Koivu became the apparent hero with less than two minutes left, scoring on a slap shot from the blue line to give the Wild a 2-1 lead.
However, a late hooking call on Kim Johnsson gave the Avalanche a chance to tie it. Milan Hejduk took no time to do just that, redirecting a slap shot into the net to send the game to OT. Keith Carney became the unlikely hero just over a minute into OT, slipping a shot off the skate of a defenseman and past Jose Theodore.
The third game was just as tight as the previous two. Again, the Wild fell behind 1-0 in the first period and were unable to respond until the third. Koivu, who has been series MVP for the Wild, tied the game seven minutes into the third period. Brian Rolston and Sakic then traded goals in the following five minutes, sending the teams to a third straight OT.
This time, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Rolston played the hero role. Rolston made a quick move down the ice to avoid an icing call against the Wild, took advantage of a strange bounce off the boards and sent the puck center to Bouchard, who then put one in the top shelf past Theodore to take a 2-1 series lead. Theodore has been absolutely dominant in the net throughout the first two periods of every game.
No matter how many shots they put on net, the Wild have not been able to score a goal in the first two periods of the entire series That held true for Tuesday’s game as well. Only this time, it wasn’t close. The Avalanche took a very early lead getting two pucks past Backstrom in the first five minutes. The Avalanche had a three-goal lead at the first intermission.
While close, exciting hockey defined the first three games of this entertaining series, frustration, embarrassment and anger explain game four. Fists were flying throughout the second half of the game. When the Wild realized the game was out of reach, they at least tried to save face by responding to the physical play Colorado has given them all series. The frustration just set in for the Wild after reaching a five-goal deficit. Aside from the fighting, the Wild found themselves on the penalty kill far more than the Avalanche, making it practically impossible to catch up.
The teams have now had some time to rest and think about tonight’s game. The Wild want to hang onto home ice advantage, ensuring that a loss in Colorado would at least force a game seven at the Excel. As long as the game follows suit with the first three games of the series, both Wild and Avalanche fans will be in for a treat.
Tajen Stockdale is at
stoc0152@d.umn.edu
