Saturday night, the Minnesota Wild were able to get one on the Colorado Avalanche in Minnesota during Game 3 of the series. Until this point, the Wild had led for less than two minutes of game time in the series.
The Wild came out strong mounting a 3-0 lead and chasing starting goaltender Scott Wedgewood out of the net. My key for Minnesota after Game 2 was to limit Colorado’s power plays. While the Avalanche did get three opportunities with the man advantage, Minnesota limited Colorado to just one PPG. Minnesota was also able to convert two of their three power play chances.
Colorado outshot Minnesota in all but the first period while having very little to show for it. This made the early 3-0 hole hard to dig out of. Wedgewood struggled early on letting ini three goals on 12 shots. Wedgewood has been a solid goaltender this season but has struggled in this series. In Game 1, Wedgewood made 30 saves on 36 shots posting a .833 save percentage. Luckily, Colorado was able to provide a nine goal buffer and got the win.
Game 2 was a better representation of what Wedgewood can do when he is on his game. 29 saves on 31 shots and a .935 save percentage.
“From what I’ve seen out of Blackwood here recently, a rested guy and a guy that we trust, I felt like it was a good opportunity for us to get him in and see if it sparked our group and if he could maybe close our door the rest of the way,” Bednar said about making the goalie change in Game 3. “That’s why I did it. Just felt like they had all the momentum and all the speed early in that game, and we needed to do something. We needed to do something to get our guys fired up and going. I was hoping that would be part of it.”
During the Avs morning skate, Mackenzie Blackwood was in the crease in the starter’s end.
Minnesota, looking to build on their momentum, will likely be starting Jesper Wallstedt for the second time this series. If the Wild can continue to limit Avalanche power plays and shut down shooting lanes (the Wild had 15 blocked shots in Game 3), we could see a repeat of Saturday night and have an even series when the teams return to Denver.
Colorado will need to continue to pressure the puck and find ways to create traffic in front of Wallstedt.
Game 4 is scheduled for Monday, May 11, at 8 p.m. ET in Saint Paul, MN.