05/11/26 11:45:00
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05/11 23:43 CDT Avalanche bounce back to beat the Wild 5-2 and take a 3-1 lead
in the series
Avalanche bounce back to beat the Wild 5-2 and take a 3-1 lead in the series
By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) --- Ross Colton and Parker Kelly each scored in the third
period for Colorado, an opportune time for their first goals of the postseason
as the high-scoring Avalanche snapped back from a midseries lull and beat the
Minnesota Wild 5-2 in Game 4 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the second
round of the NHL playoffs.
"It's just about staying ready," Kelly said, "and all these guys in here are
ready."
Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves in his first start this postseason after
relieving Scott Wedgewood during a 5-1 loss in Game 3 on Saturday, and the
Avalanche moved within one win of taking the first spot in the Western
Conference finals. Game 5 will be in Denver on Wednesday.
"You're never going to be perfect after 30 days off, so I just try to do my
best to stay sharp," said Blackwood, who learned the day before he would be
starting.
Nazem Kadri scored on a power play in the second period, and Nathan MacKinnon
--- who had a brief absence to fix a bloody nose from a puck to the face ---
and Brock Nelson added empty-net goals in the final minute.
Nico Sturm tied the game at 2 for Minnesota with his first goal of the
postseason about two minutes after Colton scored, but the Wild were outshot
20-4 over roughly the first half of the game by an energized Colorado offense.
Rookie Danila Yurov scored his first career postseason goal on a deflection
midway through the first period for the Wild during a four-minute power play
prompted by a double minor penalty on defenseman Josh Manson, but they failed
to consistently get pucks deep into the offensive zone and allowed their
crowd-noise advantage to all but disappear during their slog of a second period
before coming to life down the stretch.
"The style of game that we needed to play to win the game, we didn't," coach
John Hynes said. "We made the conscious choice not to play that way tonight, so
we'll readdress that and then we'll get ready for Game 5."
After leading the NHL in goals during the regular season while posting the
league's best record, the Avalanche scored 14 times over the first two games
before Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt stonewalled them in Game 3.
But Colton, whose wrist shot was set up by a slick across-the-slot pass by
linemate Nicolas Roy, became the 15th player to score for the Avalanche in just
eight postseason games this spring. Then Kelly made it 16.
"They were doing a lot of what we want to do --- quick with the puck, get it
down deep, work our players down low," Wallstedt said. "They got a lot of pucks
to the net. They were creating rebounds. They were creating scoring chances. We
want to do the exact same thing. It just took a little longer for us to get
there."
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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