Wild puts focus on raising its game
In elimination situation against Avs, it’s about what they can do, not what-ifs
ST. PAUL, Min . — Twice in the first five games, the Minnesota Wild have been less than 75 seconds away from a victory on the road that has been so rare in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs this year.
Both times, the Colorado Avalanche got the tying goal late in regulation before winning in overtime, and the Wild have entered an elimination situation because of it.
The Avalanche will visit for Game 6 on Monday, bringing a 3-2 lead in the series. “The ups and downs of the playoffs are tough,” Wild defenceman Ryan Suter said. “And it’s who can recover the fastest to get back to level.”
If the Wild are not able to ignore the what-ifs of frustration from those bitter defeats in Games 1 and 5, they’ll be in trouble against an Avalanche team that perked up on Saturday after consecutive flat performances in Games 3 and 4.
“It would be very easy for us to sit here and say we deserve better, whether that’s in the game or in the series,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said on Sunday. “But that’s a useless feeling to us right now.”
For the first time in 10 matchups, including five in the regular season before the playoffs, the Avs put more shots (35) on goal than the Wild (32) in Game 5. By comparison, the Wild outshot the Avalanche a combined 78-34 in Games 3 and 4.
With an uptick in the play of the second line flanked by Ryan O’Reilly and P.A. Parenteau, four goals on Saturday against Wild rookie Darcy Kuemper and the possibility of centre Matt Duchene being back in the lineup on Monday, the Avalanche have some momentum.
They’ve spoken often over the past few days about needing to put more pressure on Kuemper, as if to try to intimidate the young goalie. “I don’t think we tested him much in Minny. He had it pretty easy,” Parenteau said. “We made life a little harder on him. We have to keep doing that.”
Kuemper has stopped 78 of 83 shots in 3½ games since replacing Ilya Bryzgalov in the net. “We started to have better looks and we start to know we can beat this guy, which is very positive going there,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said.