Regrets, Wild players have a few

Wild defenseman Jake Middleton was between a rock and a hard place as the seconds ticked down on Game 5 in Denver last Wednesday.

With Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood pulled for an extra attacker, Nathan MacKinnon had the puck on his stick in the left circle, and Middleton was the closest Wild player.

With MacKinnon on a tight angle, Middleton cheated toward blocking his path for a centering pass, but the Avs’ superstar center took a shot instead, sending a hard wrister over Jesper Wallstedt and into the near corner to tie the game, 3-3, with 1 minute, 23 seconds remaining.

“It’s still pretty fresh, right?” Middleton told reporters as the Wild cleaned out their lockers and went through end-of-year physicals at Grand Casino Arena. “It’s almost just an empty kind of numb feeling, even right now.”

Middleton was on the ice for 13 of Colorado’s 24 goals in the five-game series, and the last three in the Avs’ 4-3 overtime victory that clinched the series at Ball Arena.

“I watch my shifts every game, I go back and watch them,” he said. “There’s obviously times that you make a poor decision and it goes in the net; I don’t think that was the case for the majority of the playoffs. But it definitely felt like any time a puck went in the net, I was on the ice. It was a (lousy) feeling, but there was.”

Game 5 hurt more than most losses because the Wild had taken a 3-0 lead with a dominating first period, then took some big shots from Colorado to remain up, 3-1, with less than four minutes left in regulation.

On MacKinnon’s tying goal in Game 5, Middleton was in a tough spot. Down a man, the Wild want their defenders to stay near the net instead of challenging a player with the puck, Middleton said.

“Our system is the D stay tight at the net,” he said. “It’s not really our block. If it’s a one-timer, quick play, you’re going to try to make yourself big and be in that lane. But from where he’s standing, our system is we’ve gotta stay netfront and be ready for any chaos that could happen there.”

And, Middleton added, “That’s a hell of a shot, too.”

The Wild had their chances late, as well. came within inches of making it 4-1 in regulation when he hit the cross bar with a slap shot from the point. In overtime, ’s point-blank one-timer from the slot was swallowed up by a sliding Wedgewood.