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Minnesota's goal in OT ties series with Avs

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 11, 2008 at 9:54 p.m.
Updated April 11, 2008 at 11:33 p.m.

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Wild goalkeeper Niklas Backstrom turns away a shot from the Avalanche's Kurt Sauer as the Wild's Kim Johnsson provides some added defense Friday night in St. Paul, Minn.

Photo by Tom Olmscheid / Associated Press

Wild goalkeeper Niklas Backstrom turns away a shot from the Avalanche's Kurt Sauer as the Wild's Kim Johnsson provides some added defense Friday night in St. Paul, Minn.

Minnesota's Mikko Koivu, front, and Brian Rolston, left, celebrate teammate Keith Carney's overtime goal in front of Colorado goalie JoseTheodore, Friday night in St. Paul, Minn. Carney's goal 1:14 into overtime gave the Wild the win and tied the Western Conference playoff series at one game apiece.

Photo by Tom Olmscheid, Associated Press

Minnesota's Mikko Koivu, front, and Brian Rolston, left, celebrate teammate Keith Carney's overtime goal in front of Colorado goalie JoseTheodore, Friday night in St. Paul, Minn. Carney's goal 1:14 into overtime gave the Wild the win and tied the Western Conference playoff series at one game apiece.

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Hockey players have been taught, probably since the sport was invented, to fire the puck at the net because there is always the possibility that something good will happen.

Veteran defenseman Keith Carney did just that Friday night and caught a fortunate break to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 overtime win against the Avalanche at the Xcel Energy Center.

Carney launched a shot from the left faceoff circle into a crowd of players, it hit Avalanche defenseman Ruslan Salei's skate and bounced past goalie Jose Theodore at 1:14 of the extra period to tie the Western Conference quarterfinal series at one game apiece.

"Well, obviously, there's nothing I can do right now about that," Salei said. "We're still in good shape. We just have to get ready for the next one."

Minnesota's Brian Rolston has been around long enough to know that plenty of postseason games are decided by freak goals.

"That's the way it always is," he said. "You watch the playoffs, it's a shot off the skate, a wraparound goal that goes around somebody. That's the way pucks go in, especially in overtime."

The Avalanche caught a bit of a break in the series opener Wednesday, also a 3-2 overtime decision. A puck shot by Salei hit the Wild's Martin Skoula and bounced to Joe Sakic, who put it past goalie Niklas Backstrom.

"Sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don't," said Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg, who had a goal and an assist. "We got the bounce in the first game, and they got it this game. It's two good teams. It's going to be like this every game, I think."

Theodore, who finished with 28 saves, didn't have much chance to stop any of the Wild's goals.

"We knew it was going to be a low-scoring and really tight game," he said. "We played a solid game and every time you're in overtime, it's always kind of an ugly goal that goes in, and that's pretty much what happened."

Milan Hejduk sent the game to overtime with a power-play goal with 43.8 seconds remaining in the third period - barely a minute after the Wild took a 2-1 lead on Mikko Koivu's goal.

"We had a great goal to get it to overtime. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long," Sakic said. "This is what we expected in this series. It's going to be tight."

Theodore was on the bench for an extra skater when Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson took down Ryan Smyth in front of Backstrom and was penalized for hooking.

Theodore remained on the bench, giving the Avalanche a six- on-four skating advantage. Defenseman John-Michael Liles, whose turnover led to Koivu's goal with 1:51 left in the period, fired a shot from just inside the blue line and Hejduk was able to tip it past Smyth and between Backstrom's pads.

"It was a good shot and I tipped it," Hejduk said. "I don't know where it went. Five hole? I didn't really see it. It was a similar battle, like the last game, a pretty tight game. They got kind of a lucky bounce, but I guess it happens."

Though disappointed with the outcome Friday, the Avalanche managed to secure home-ice advantage with the split. The series moves to the Pepsi Center for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Tuesday.

"You know what? In our league, home ice is not much of an advantage," Sakic said. "It's going to be great to get home and play in front of our fans, but (the rink) has the same dimensions and (the Wild) is not going to really care going on the road."

The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 17:06 of the first period on a goal by Forsberg but couldn't convert on two later power plays to build on it.

Forsberg was sent to the box for hooking with 14.8 seconds left in the second period, the Wild's power play carried into the third and Pavol Demitra converted with a shot from the left point at 1:37.

Forsberg's goal came after a pass by defenseman Jeff Finger, whose stick was knocked over the glass by Minnesota's Todd Fedoruk behind the play.

Forsberg carried the puck from right to left in the Wild end, skated by defenseman Sean Hill and took a shot across his body that beat Backstrom to the glove side.

"Both teams have good goalies and are playing good defensively, so there aren't a whole lot of scoring chances," Forsberg said. "When there is, the goalies are there. We said before the series, it's going to be 3-2, 2-1, whatever. It's been like this so far."

ETC.: Avalanche rookie David Jones suffered an injury to his left leg in the second period and didn't return. The severity of the injury isn't known. . . . The Avalanche will take off today and practice Sunday.

Wild 3, Avalanche 2, OT

Colorado1 0 1 0 - 2

Minnesota0 0 2 1 - 3

First period - 1, Col, Forsberg 1 (Finger), 17:06. Penalties - Rolston, Min (slashing), 1:29; McLeod, Col, (interference), 9:11; Burns, Min (tripping), 19:48.

Second period - None. Penalties - Sheppard, Min (roughing), 12:12; McLeod, Col, (roughing), 12:12; Belanger, Min (high-sticking), 17:19; Forsberg, Col, (hooking), 19:45.

Third period - 2, Min, Demitra 1 (Burns), 1:37 (pp). 3, Min, Koivu 2 (Bouchard), 18:09. 4, Col, Hejduk 1 (Liles, Forsberg), 19:16 (pp). Penalties - Sauer, Col, (hooking), 13:34; Johnsson, Min (hooking), 18:51.

Overtime - 5, Min, Carney 1, 1:14. Penalties - None.

Shots - Col 8-8-10-0 - 26. Min 7-7-16-1 - 31. Power plays - Col 1 of 4; Min 1 of 3. Goalies - Col, Theodore 1-1-0 (31 shots-28 saves). Min, Backstrom 1-1-0 (26-24). A - 19,360 (18,064). T - 2:40. Referees - Eric Furlatt, Dan O'Halloran. Linesmen - Jean Morin, Mark Wheler.

Comments

  • April 12, 2008

    1:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Kered writes:

    The Avs have owned this series this the drop of the puck and if it weren't for a few bad bounces we would be looking at a dominating 2-0 lead. LETS GO AVALANCHE!!!

  • April 12, 2008

    11:19 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    trekers writes:

    Wow......... so good to have John back doing the play-by-play on TV!!!! He's still the voice of the AVs in my book.... maybe will bring us some "hockey luck"!
    Hope Haynes is OK after his surgery. Prayers are with him & his family. Living away from the Denver area we don't get the updates very well.