Game 3 Recap: Fright night in Minnesota, Avs downed 5-1

ST PAUL, MINNESOTA - MAY 09: Zach Bogosian #24 of the Minnesota Wild checks Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images After a long week off the Colorado Avalanche began the away portion of their second round series in Minnesota. The Wild were energized in their home building and with some help on special teams built a lead and never looked back to take this game 5-1 and cut Colorado’s lead in the series to 2-1.

The Game It was a fairly even start to the game with Colorado receiving the game’s first power play but the visitors came up empty. It took a four-on-four for the game’s first score as Kirill Kaprizov took advantage of some soft defending and beat Scott Wedgewood who went down too early. Devon Toews took a penalty soon after and while it was four-on-three Quinn Hughes found room above Wedgewood after he dropped his stick to put the Wild up by two.

The second period didn’t start any better for Colorado after the Wild converted on yet another power play. This time Toews tipped the puck and Ryan Hartman batted the rebound in. At this point Jared Bednar opted for Mackenzie Blackwood to enter the game for his first taste of action in 25 days.

Wedgewood wasn’t the primary culprit for the 3-0 deficit but clearly a change of momentum was needed. After investing in future power plays by regularly going to the penalty box the Avalanche were awarded a late period man advantage and Nathan MacKinnon cashed in. It took a Wild player shoving Gabe Landeskog on top of their own goaltender for MacKinnon to have a free look at the open net.