3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 4-3 Overtime Loss in Game 5 to the Avalanche

The Minnesota Wild faced the Colorado Avalanche for Game 5 in the second round on Wednesday night, May 13. The Wild were in a win-or-go-home situation, and they had to find a way without Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, and Zach Bogosian. Their lineup was the same, with the exception of Jeff Petry, who came in with Bogosian out. 

Jesper Wallstedt was in the net once again, and the Wild got off to a hot start with three goals in the first period and one that was waived off as well. However the second and third periods, the Avalanche forced their way back into the game with a goal in the second, and two in the final five minutes that tied the game. It took just three minutes and 52 seconds into overtime for the Avalanche to score and take the game 4-3, plus the series 4-1. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the Wild’s downfall. 

Wild Couldn’t Hold Off Avalanche

The Wild got off to a great start, and things looked strong as they outskated the Avalanche and were aggressive at both ends of the ice. However, after they scored their third goal, the Avalanche found their stride while the Wild struggled to hold them off. The second period, things flipped, and although the Avalanche scored just one goal, the Wild barely got out of that period. 

In the third period, both teams had time where they controlled the play, but again it was the Avalanche who found the way through when the Wild didn’t, and they made the Wild pay. There were mistakes made, and the puck got through twice to force overtime. The Wild had found ways to start out periods hot, so when they had the break for overtime, it looked promising. 

Again, the Wild came out strong but couldn’t convert, and the puck went the opposite way. The Wild couldn’t step up to stop the Avalanche, and they scored to take the win. The Wild had many chances throughout the game to step up and seal the win, but failed to do so and allowed the Avalanche to climb back in. 

Wild’s Wallstedt Did What He Could

While the Wild clearly let up in the second and third periods, which was the ultimate reason for their downfall, the entire game wasn’t bad, and there’s one player who deserved the win and unfortunately didn’t get it. That player was their goaltender, Jesper Wallstedt, who did everything he possibly could to secure the win for his team. 

It’s understandable that seeing three straight goals scored against some would want to blame the goaltender; however, he did what he could. The first two goals, Wallstedt was in position, but the shot was tipped, and there was no way for him to know that in time. The third goal wasn’t tipped but was an insane shot by Nathan MacKinnon, doing what he does best, and almost no goaltender would stop that. 

The final goal in overtime was a breakdown in defense that shouldn’t have happened, and Wallstedt was the unfortunate recipient of it. The Avalanche got behind the defense, and by the time they caught up, Wallstedt had to go side-to-side, and the Avalanche had him beat. However, this loss is not on his shoulders. 

Wild’s Fourth Line Impact

The Wild lost, their season has ended, and while it’s a hard loss to accept for Wild fans, there is one more bright spot to look at. The effort of the fourth line to start the game was incredible, as well as Marcus Johansson’s goal from Matt Boldy to get things started. That goal got things going, but it was the fourth line of Nick Foligno, Nicol Sturm, and Marcus Foligno who kept at it. 

Although the game didn’t go the way everyone wanted, they had a strong chance because of the efforts of this line. They kept aggressive and pushed through to force the goals plus they did well on the lone penalty they had to kill off as well. Many wondered why the Wild brought back Sturm in the offseason, but he proved how valuable he is through this whole postseason. 

Some players thrived while others struggled, and unfortunately for the Wild, they couldn’t get on the same page to finish a game other than Game 3. There were moments throughout the series where they showed a lot of potential, but couldn’t hold it. Hopefully, this is a big lesson for them, and next season will be even better as they have a lot of potential as long as they continue to move in the right direction.