DENVER – The Wild were sellers at the NHL trade deadline.
Wild catch a break late, but lose in overtime to Avalanche
Valeri Nichushkin broke a 1-1 tie on a 4-on-3 power play midway through overtime after an unsuccessful penalty shot by Mats Zuccarello late in the third but successful challenge by the Wild to overturn an Avalanche goal.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 9, 2024 at 6:34AM
They lost not one, not two, but three roster players and didn’t replace them, instead recouping draft picks and prospects.
That’s what happens when a team is on the fringe of the playoff picture.
But in their first game since the exodus, the Wild didn’t play like they were short-staffed: They played almost as well as the buyers across the ice.
“We tried to just stay strong as a team and really battle for each other, and that’s what we did today,” goaltender Filip Gustavsson said. “We’re going to have results in the future.”
In one of their most competitive efforts of the season, the Wild went toe-to-toe with the Avalanche — to the point Colorado needed an overtime power play to finally shrug off the Wild 2-1 at Ball Arena on Friday night in an entertaining debut for each team’s revamped lineup.
“We weren’t a team that added, where you’d think you’d get a boost,” coach John Hynes said. “But I give our guys a lot of credit the way that they stayed focus over the last couple days and played some pretty good hockey.”
With 10 seconds left in a hooking penalty against Kirill Kaprizov, Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin broke a 1-1 tie when he buried a bouncing puck at 2 minutes, 32 seconds of overtime to spoil a comeback the Wild looked destined to complete late in the third period.
That’s when the Wild were awarded a penalty shot, Kaprizov skated in alone and the Wild overturned an Avalanche goal.
But Mats Zuccarello’s penalty shot went wide, Kaprizov was denied and the momentum from that successful offside challenge fizzled.
Still, the point the Wild picked up was helpful, especially after banking two Thursday with the 5-2 victory at Arizona: They are six back of a playoff spot after starting their road trip trailing by nine.
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“The last couple of games, the style of game, the mentality we played with, I think is a good recipe to move forward and try to have a good week coming up,” Hynes said.
Colorado capitalized on the first shot just 42 seconds into the first period, a five-hole backhander by Artturi Lehkonen set up by — who else? — Nathan MacKinnon.
That assist extended MacKinnon’s point streak on home ice to a whopping 32 games, the second-longest season-opening point streak at home in NHL history. MacKinnon trails only Wayne Gretzky’s 40-game record set in 1988-89 with Los Angeles.
The NHL’s leading scorer, MacKinnon was coming off back-to-back four-point performances and his early dish looked like it could be the beginning of another masterpiece by the superstar center.
But penalty trouble stalled the Avalanche, who went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play, and the Wild — led by Gustavsson — recalibrated. Gustavsson made 38 saves in between goals.
“That’s unfortunately been the whole thing all year: I had a few good games, and I had some very bad ones,” Gustavsson said. “Coaches and teammates hate that because they don’t know what they get from you. So, all I can do is try to be more consistent in the future, and that’s what I’m working on.”
What made the reset by the Wild even more impressive is they could have done the opposite.
Earlier in the day, the Wild traded Pat Maroon to Boston and Connor Dewar to Toronto after sending Brandon Duhaime to the Avalanche on Thursday.
“Going to the rink three days ago with a completely different hockey team, it’s hard,” defenseman Brock Faber said. “But obviously it’s part of the job, and I thought we came together as a group.”
Duhaime was one of four new faces suiting up for a Colorado squad that’s vying for the top spot in the Central Division, but the Avalanche weren’t dominating and that opened the door for the Wild.
Finally, at 10:44 of the second, Faber wired in his second goal in as many games by goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who totaled 29 saves.
With 37 points, Faber passed Marian Gaborik for the third-most single-season point total by a Wild rookie.
This stalemate held for the rest of the second and the third, although the Wild could have ended it.
Zuccarello was given a penalty shot with 5:55 to go in regulation after Andrew Cogliano funneled a broken stick at Zuccarello while he had the puck, but Zuccarello didn’t connect against Georgiev. Soon after, Kaprizov couldn’t convert on a breakaway.
Then with 2:20 left, Colorado’s Devon Toews deflected the puck by Gustavsson, but the Wild erased the goal when they challenged for offside, a ruling that felt like a chance for the Wild to redeem themselves.
But it was the Avalanche who ultimately prevailed.
“Colorado is one of the best teams in the league,” Gustavsson said. “We’re head-to-head with them today, and we showed up. I wish we could have played like this every day all year.”
Nashville, coached by former Wild winger Andrew Brunette, has lost three in a row entering Saturday’s game.
