Wild Surge Back, Take Down Avalanche in Shootout 3-2

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, Nov. 28, in the first half of a home back-to-back. The Wild received some good and bad news in terms of injuries prior to the game, as Ryan Hartman returned from a lower-body injury, but Marcus Foligno was put on injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. They also remained without Vinnie Hinostroza, Marco Rossi, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

The Avalanche were without Gavin Brindley, Logan O’Connor, and Valeri Nichuskin due to injuries. The goaltending was between Jesper Wallstedt for the Wild and Scott Wedgewood for the Avalanche. The game started out in favor of the Avalanche, but the Wild fought back, as did the Avalanche.

It was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation and required overtime and a shootout. The Wild won the shootout and took the game 3-2. This moved the Wild’s record to 14-7-4 and the Avalanche to 17-1-6.

Game Recap

The game started out quite evenly with chances for both sides, and it was very fast-paced. The Avalanche got on the board late in the first to give themselves a 1-0 lead. The goal was scored by Nathan MacKinnon, and he was unassisted. That was the only goal of the period, and the Avalanche took the lead into the second.

The Wild scored in the latter half of the middle period to tie the game up 1-1. The goal was scored by Kirill Kaprizov, the 200th of his career; Zeev Buium and Mats Zuccarello assisted him. The Wild’s Kaprizov struck again with under two minutes to go to give his team the 2-1 lead. Ryan Hartman and Yakov Trenin assisted him. Those were the only goals of the second, and the Wild took the lead into the third.

Minnesota Wild Celebrate — Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt celebrates the team’s shootout win against the Colorado Avalanche (Matt Krohn-Imagn Images)

The Avalanche tied it up 2-2 near the midway point of the third period on a goal from Gabriel Landeskog. He was assisted by MacKinnon and Cale Makar. That was the only goal of the third period, and it went to overtime, where there was also no score, and needed a shootout to finish. The Wild’s Zuccarello and Boldy scored in the shootout while Martin Necas had the lone goal for the Avalanche and the Wild took the win 3-2.

The Wild will remain at home to finish out their home back-to-back on Saturday evening, Nov. 29, against the Buffalo Sabres. The Avalanche will head back home to host the Montréal Canadiens also on Saturday to finish out their own back-to-back.