Wild snares berth with OT win; Avs get only one point

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Monday, March 31, 2008

Paul Battaglia / Associated Press

Minnesota's Mark Parrish fires a rebound toward Colorado goaltender Jose Theodore while the Avalanche's Scott Hannan watches the play Sunday. The host Wild won 3-2 in overtime.

Coming back from a two-goal deficit against a stingy defensive team like the Minnesota Wild is fairly rare, so the Avalanche didn't appear to be overly upset by Sunday's 3-2 overtime loss at the Xcel Energy Center.

But the defeat, which snapped the Avalanche's winning streak at three games, probably ended any realistic chance at overtaking the Wild for first place in the Northwest Division.

"We got a point, which is important, but we really wanted to get two points," captain Joe Sakic said. "I thought we played a pretty good hockey game. We didn't give them much and we had opportunities. You feel like you let a point slip, for sure.

"We got one and, hopefully, we can get two more in Vancouver (on Tuesday). It would have been nice to get two and give us a chance for the division."

The Avalanche trails the Wild, which clinched a playoff berth earlier in the day, by four points and each team has two games remaining, including Sunday at the Pepsi Center in the regular-season finale.

"We know we're in a good position (to get into the playoffs), but we know we still have to win," Sakic said. "We have to play well in Vancouver. I'm pretty sure if we win that game, we clinch. I don't know, but we're pretty close."

Marian Gaborik converted Pavol Demitra's return pass on a two-on-one rush at 3:10 of overtime to give the Wild its fifth consecutive home win against the Avalanche, and the fleet right wing helped stake Minnesota to a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 8:19 of the opening period.

"Considering how it started . . . still, I think we deserved two (points) and we got one," forward Andrew Brunette said. "We talked about the start, and we were a little flat, and we got into some penalty trouble. Two goals (down) against that team . . . it's just tough to come back. When you're down 2-0, of course you take the point."

Gaborik's overtime goal came after the Avalanche's Milan Hej- duk, while he was along the boards in the Wild end, tried to send a pass to Scott Hannan.

"It hit his skate and bounced the worst way, and they had a two-on-one," Hejduk said.

Gaborik skated down right wing and passed across to Demitra, who was in tight on the opposite side. Demitra sent the puck back to Gaborik for a tap-in behind goalie Jose Theodore.

"The puck kind of bounced on Demitra's feet there and was rolling," Gaborik said. "I just tried to stop in front, and he handled the puck great and fed it in front where I had an open net."

The Avalanche got second-period goals from defensemen Jeff Finger and Ruslan Salei to tie the score but couldn't finish off a number of chances to take the lead.

"The last 50 minutes, we played the way we wanted to play," Brunette said. "We had the majority of the chances, even though they hit a few posts. I thought we carried the play, and it's disappointing not getting two (points)."

Brian Rolston started the scoring at 4:56 of the first period by converting the rebound of Kim Johnsson's shot, and Gaborik scored a second after a two-man advantage expired with Ryan Smyth (slashing) and Kurt Sauer (hooking) in the penalty box.

The Avalanche took four penalties in the first 8:55 of the game, including an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction assessed to coach Joel Quenneville for abuse of officials.

Finger, whose eight goals lead all Avalanche defensemen, skated uncontested down right wing to convert Sakic's cross-ice pass at 1:21 of the second period to draw the Avalanche to 2-1.

"He saw me backdoor," Finger said. "It was a beautiful pass, I had a wide-open net, and I was able to tap it in."

Salei scored at 11:59 when his point shot hit Wild defenseman Nick Schultz's skate and bounced past goalie Niklas Backstrom.

"Points at this time of the year are very valuable," Quenneville said. "It's a tough building to come in and get points. It was a hard-fought game, very competitive."

FORSBERG OUT: Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg was scratched for what the team said is a sore groin. He didn't play in overtime Friday against Edmonton, didn't practice Saturday and didn't take the pregame warm-up Sunday. "Hopefully, he'll join us (today at practice). We'll see," Quenneville said. The Avalanche has lost five of the seven games that Forsberg has missed.

NUMBERS GAME

5-game losing streak at the Xcel Energy Center for the Avalanche, which has gone 0-4-1 since a 2-1 shootout win Jan. 6, 2006.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Joe Sakic and Andrew Brunette carried baseball bats out of the Avalanche locker room after meeting Minnesota Twins Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer following the game Sunday.

The hockey players exchanged sticks with the baseball players, who start their season at the Metrodome tonight against the Los Angeles Angels.

Sakic and Brunette are two of the Avalanche's biggest baseball fans and were especially pleased to meet Morneau. The American League's Most Valuable Player in 2006 is from New Westminster, British Columbia, not far from where Sakic grew up in Burnaby, B.C.

PILING ON POINTS

Wild forward Marian Gaborik's 39th and 40th goals broke the franchise record of 38 that he set in 2005-06 and gave him 80 points, eclipsing the team mark of 79 set by Brian Rolston in the '05-06 season.

"It feels good to get 40 goals, especially in a big win for us," Gaborik said. "We have a couple games to go and, hopefully, we can get the division title."

The Wild leads the Northwest Division with two games remaining, Thursday against Calgary at home and Sunday against the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.

HE SAID IT

"I'll take the hit, and I'll blame the referee for getting me so excited."

Joel Quenneville, Avalanche coach, on a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first period.