Wild stifled by Avalanche’s impressive bounce back

In late April, the Wild earned their first playoff series win in more than a decade by bouncing back. They trailed Dallas 2-1 in the series, and were down by a goal in Game 4, facing the possibility of traveling back to Texas to face elimination.

Instead, they tied the game, won it in overtime, and grabbed the next two games to reach Round 2.

And there, in Round 2, on Monday, they got a hard lesson in how great teams bounce back.

The Wild had routed Colorado in Game 3, getting back into the series with a 5-1 win. They took a lead in Game 4, only to see the powerful Avalanche turn the tables and dominate long stretches. Trailing in the third period, the Wild forged a 2-2 tie on the strength of Nico Sturm’s first playoff goal since 2021.

And from there, it was all Colorado. By the time it was over, the Avalanche led the series 3-1, and the NHL’s best regular season team had improved to 7-1 in the playoffs.

Most notably, immediately after Sturm’s goal, the Avalanche hemmed Minnesota into the defensive zone, and didn’t relent until Parker Kelly had scored the game-winner. They added two more into an empty net for a 5-2 win.

“They’re a good team too. They’re gonna have good shifts. They’re gonna have pushes. You gotta try and limit those,” Wild forward Matt Boldy said. “Yeah, there’s not really much of an answer for it. Yeah, those shifts are big. We know that. But the game’s not always gonna go perfectly. And they’re a good team too. But yeah, we think we left a little out there tonight.”

For Sturm, who won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022, the trouble started long before his goal got the sellout crowd back involved.

“We made bad decisions with the puck tonight, especially in the first half of the game. And, to be honest, we probably didn’t deserve to win when you take the whole game into perspective,” he said, offering some brutal honesty. “I felt like we started playing with about seven, eight minutes left in the second period, that’s when we found our game. At both blue lines, really, that team is too good to where you can get away with some of those mistakes, turning pucks over at the far blue line, not getting pucks out at our blue line. And overall, when you take the whole game, the final score is probably where it was supposed to be, to be honest.”