Colorado Avalanche top Minnesota Wild in high-scoring opener

minnesota wild Many questions remained to be answered after that lost 9-6 till colorado avalanche How and why he conceded so many goals on Sunday night.

Despite erasing a three-goal deficit and taking a 5–4 lead into the second period, the Wild oversaw a late avalanche to win Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

“I think there’s a lot to look back on with a little bit of an up-and-down game,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Obviously, you look at the score. We’ll take a look at some things and take some lessons from it and get ready for Game 2.”

The Avalanche were expected to be a formidable foe after finishing with the best record in the league and leading the regular season in goals per game.

His scoring ability continued into the postseason. After scoring an average of only two goals in the first two matches against Los Angeles Kings In the first round, the Avalanche scored a combined nine goals in Games 3 and 4 and defeated Los Angeles and took a week off, while the Wild ultimately suffered a loss. dallas stars In six games.

on sunday, Sam Malinsky, jack drury And artturi lehkonen Each scored within the first seven-plus minutes of the first period to give Colorado a 3–0 lead.

It was the fourth time this postseason the Wild allowed the first goal.

marcus johansson And Ryan Hartman A goal in the final five minutes of the opening frame cut the Wild’s deficit to 3–2.

avalanche protector Nick Blankenberg doubled the lead to 4–2 at 4:16 of the second period, but the Wild responded with three unanswered goals to limit marcus folignoA shorthanded breakaway score gave the Wild a 5–4 lead.

It was the second time the Avalanche trailed in the postseason. The Kings led the Avs by a little more than three minutes in Game 2.

But the Wild’s lead lasted less than two minutes devon toews Tied it up with 1:56 left in the second period.

of colorado black capricorn Scored twice in the third as part of a four-goal barrage that included an empty-netter nathan mackinnon.

The game featured 14 different goal scorers, the most in a playoff contest since 1993. According to the NHL, Game 1 occurred for the third time in league history.

“If it wasn’t 9-0 it would definitely be a little more positive, right?” Foligno said. “The game was always up and running. It was a crazy game, but knowing the goaltending is going well, it’s not an issue. Just cleaning up the defensive side of the game.”

So what happened against the Avalanche? How did Colorado match the Wild’s five goals against the Stars in six games?

“They’re definitely a different team than Dallas,” said Walstead, who finished with 34 saves. “Dallas is looking for more opportunities. They didn’t make a lot of shots in a hurry, and they didn’t get a lot of pucks on net, and this team was a lot different.

“They try to get everything. They get good traffic. They get good tips and everything. It was definitely a different game for me today than it was in Dallas.”

Volstad said he needed to be better in Game 1, but some of his teammates said he needed to perform more in front of them.

“I think we can improve our structure more,” Wild defenseman jake middleton Said. “But tonight was not our best by any means.”

Hines said he never thought about pulling Volstead and thought the 23-year-old played well.

“Look what the score was,” Hines said. “We could say it was nine. But he got an empty-netter, and there were a lot of goals against his guy too.”

Wild asked about impact of missing veteran defenseman jonas brodin and top six centers joel erickson oneBoth of whom could not play the first game due to lower body injuries.

“Listen, there are no excuses,” Foligno said. “You lose Brody and Ecker and that changes things, but you can say the same thing for them.”

The Wild also faced a quick turnaround to start this series. Minnesota finished its first-round series on Thursday and had an off day on Friday. The Wild learned late Friday night that the first game against the Avalanche was scheduled for Sunday.

The Wild held an optional practice on Saturday before flying to Denver.

“I don’t think any practice had anything to do with it,” Hines said. “I think it’s all about wrapping your head around the series and understanding the difference between Colorado and Dallas, and you also have to keep in mind that we just came off a six-game series. There are guys that are playing a lot of minutes, tough minutes. Our team always responds in the right way.

“I think if we had gone out there for 30 to 35 minutes of practice, it wouldn’t have made one bit of difference.”

Hines blamed the performance more on details than lack of energy.

“We had the energy and juice to play tonight,” Hines said. “The execution that we needed against this team wasn’t as strong as it needed to be tonight.”