Bitter way to enter break

Disallowed goal upsets Colorado in Minnesota win

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 25, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by Michael Martin / Nhli Via Getty Images

Minnesota's Matt Foy is knocked off his skates on a forceful check by the Avalanche's Cody McCormick during the Wild's win.

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Several sticks held by players from two teams were swatting at a puck in front of the Minnesota Wild net when one made contact and knocked the disc behind goalie Niklas Backstrom.

Referee Chris Lee immediately waved off what might have been an Avalanche goal that would have tied Thursday night's game with 8:01 remaining in the third period.

Instead, the Wild held on at the Pepsi Center for a 3-2 win in yet another closely contested Northwest Division showdown.

The victory moved the Wild into first place with 59 points, three more than the fourth-place Avalanche, which heads into the NHL All-Star break barely clutching the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference.

"These are close games that we have to get points in," said coach Joel Quenneville, whose players seemed convinced a Wild player - not one from the Avalanche - had knocked in that puck with a high stick, that the goal should have counted, setting up the prospect of overtime.

"I don't think I touched it," said forward Ben Guite, who was involved in the goalmouth scrum.

Defenseman John-Michael Liles also was near the play.

"I told (the referee) when he goes back and sees the tape, I think it'll change his mind," Liles said. "Obviously, it affected the outcome of the game, but we had our chances, too."

Quenneville said the ruling was a "judgment call," a difficult one to argue.

"We looked at (the replay)," he said. "It's close. There's three sticks in there at once and you don't know exactly whose stick it was that it hit. It's a tough call to make."

Wild coach Jacques Lemaire saw it differently.

"A bouncing puck in front that ends up on one of (the Avalanche's) sticks when the goalie's down, and then shoot it by the goalie," he said.

But the Avalanche, 1-2-1 in the first four games of a five-game homestand, had other chances against Backstrom, who finished with 28 saves.

Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore, in his 10th consecutive start, turned aside 34 shots but was upset with the goal by Pavol Demitra that broke a 2-2 tie at 13:41 of the second period.

Theodore made a save against defenseman Kurtis Foster, who drilled a high shot from the blue line. Theodore knocked the puck down with his glove, but Demitra kicked the rebound onto his stick, skated across the slot and slipped it into the open net.

"It was a bad rebound on my part," Theodore said. "The shot was high, so I was surprised a little bit. It was going for my face. I just put up my glove. (The rebound) was going in the corner, but (Demitra) was cutting across.

"You look at the overall game, I made the big saves when it counted, but that's a bad rebound and I'm really frustrated about it."

The Avalanche overcame a 2-0 deficit with goals by Andrew Brunette and Wojtek Wolski, who tied the score at 2:24 of the second period with his first goal in 11 games.

Looking to manufacture more offense, Quenneville put speedy rookie center T.J. Hensick between Brunette and Milan Hejduk in the third period.

Hensick took seven of his 17 shifts in the final period and was impressive even though the unit didn't score.

"I thought he had good jump," Quenneville said. "It was one of his more effective games. He had speed, he had the puck a lot and he made plays. There's some good improvement in his overall game. He earned the opportunity to get more (minutes)."

Brunette scored with 27.8 seconds to play in the first period to draw the Avalanche to 2-1 after the Wild got goals from Todd Fedoruk at 5:25 and Brian Rolston at 13:27 on a power play after a giveaway by Avalanche defenseman Scott Hannan.

"Our mind-set now is we have a few days to get away," Quenne- ville said. "We could use a break. I think a lot of teams probably feel the same way. Every game is big the rest of the way. There's not many hockey games left (32) and we know the implications of our (playoff) race. It's going to be a great stretch run and we should all get excited coming out of the break."

Wild 3, Avalanche 2

Minnesota2 1 0 - 3

Colorado1 1 0 - 2

First period - 1, Min, Fedoruk 2 (Demitra, Schultz), 5:25. 2, Min, Rolston 17 (Gaborik, Nummelin), 13:27 (pp). 3, Col, Brunette 10 (Hejduk, Hlinka), 19:32. Penalties - Hejduk, Col, (hooking), 12:35; Svatos, Col, (tripping), 19:57.

Second period - 4, Col, Wolski 14 (Svatos, Arnason), 2:24. 5, Min, Demitra 10 (Foster, Schultz), 13:41. Penalties - Koivu, Min (delay of game), 14:13; Johnsson, Min (hooking), 16:45; Col bench, served by Svatos (too many men), 19:19.

Third period - None. Penalties - None.

Shots - Min 12-15-10 - 37. Col 9-10-11 - 30. Power plays - Min 1 of 3; Col 0 of 2. Goalies - Min, Backstrom 18-9-2 (30 shots-28 saves). Col, Theodore 12-12-2 (37-34). A - 15,321 (18,007). T - 2:24. Referees - Chris Lee, Kevin Pollock. Linesmen - Andy McElman, Ryan Galloway.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com

NUMBERS GAME

20-0-0 record for the Wild this season in games it leads after two periods.

POWERLESS

When the Avalanche failed to score on back-to-back power plays near the end of the second period, it ran the team's futility streak on home ice to 24 in a row spanning seven games.

The Avalanche hasn't scored a power-play goal at the Pepsi Center since Andrew Brunette did Dec. 23 in a 3-1 win against Vancouver.

Overall, the Avalanche is 3-for-43 on power plays in the past 14 games.

The Wild was in a 4-for-36 slump on power plays in an 11-game stretch before going 1-for-3 on Thursday.

DANGEROUS

It would have been interesting to watch Wild forward Brian Rolston if the game had gone to a shootout.

Rolston has been the center of some controversy by using a slap shot in shootouts, which some goalies say are dangerous from close range.

"You can't possibly say you can't shoot slap shots," Rolston told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I don't think you can do that. It's the game, and it's a shot, and if that's your best shot. . . . "

Rolston has converted one of two breakaways in shootouts this season and is 9-for-21 since the shootout became a part of NHL games after the 2004-05 lockout.

HE SAID IT

"I don't think anyone in this room is thinking about just hanging in there."

John-Michael Liles, Avalanche defenseman, on staying close to the Northwest Division lead until Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth and Paul Stastny return.

Rick Sadowski

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