Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber each recorded a goal and two assists as the Minnesota Wild overpowered the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Quinn Hughes added a goal and an assist as Minnesota cut the best-of-seven series deficit to 2-1. Ryan Hartman and Matt Boldy also found the net, while Mats Zuccarello contributed two assists for the Wild.
Nathan MacKinnon scored Colorado’s lone goal, snapping the Avalanche’s perfect 6-0 postseason start. The two teams meet again for Game 4 on Monday night in Minnesota.
“I thought we came out with desperation,” Faber said. “There are no excuses for how we played in the first two games. It was a quick turnaround after an emotional series in Dallas, and we needed to move on faster. We didn’t bring our best in Colorado. But tonight was much better—tonight was how we play.”
Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt stopped 34 of 35 shots to secure the win.
Avalanche starter Scott Wedgewood allowed three goals on 12 shots before being pulled in the second period. Mackenzie Blackwood saw his first postseason action, stopping 12 of 13 shots in relief.
“I felt it was a good chance to put him in and see if it could spark our group and if he could shut the door the rest of the way,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That’s why I made the change. It just seemed they had all the momentum and energy early in the game, and we needed to do something.”
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Kaprizov opened the scoring with 4:49 left in the period, racing toward the net, taking a pass from Faber, and finishing with a wrist shot from the left side of the crease. Hughes scored less than two minutes later, moving the puck from the left circle to the top of the slot and firing a wrist shot through traffic for a power-play goal.
Another power-play goal extended the lead to 3-0 with 15:37 remaining in the second period. Hartman parked in front of the crease and knocked in a shot from the point by Zuccarello.
“We didn’t play well enough to win that hockey game tonight,” Bednar said. “We faced a desperate team. It looked to me like they had more determination, more tenacity, more physicality. We tried to respond, but we didn’t get much from some of our lines tonight.”
Colorado got on the board with 6:49 left in the second period. Wallstedt stopped the initial shot, but MacKinnon corralled the rebound and tapped it in for a power-play goal. Minnesota answered just 20 seconds later. Faber scored on a deflection to make it 4-1 with 6:29 to go in the period.
Boldy capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 3.3 seconds left.
