Avalanche complete comeback, stun Wild in overtime of Game 1
The Colorado Avalanche completed a borderline miraculous comeback to earn a 5-4 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 on Thursday night. The Avalanche had allowed three goals in the second period, and were down two goals headed into the final frame.
But the Avalanche managed to level the score thanks to third period goals from Jamie McGinn and Paul Stastny - who put a puck past Wild goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov with just 14 seconds remaining, and the Avalanche net empty, to tie the game.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy gave his team the best chance possible to tie the game, by pulling goaltender Semyon Varlamov with over three minutes remaining the context. The Wild, however, came painfully close to closing out the game:
[Courtesy NHL.com]
It's not a surprise, really, that Wild players were kicking themselves for letting Game 1 slip away:
Parise:we were in the drivers seat. We can't let that happen. We've got to lock it down
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) April 18, 2014
Stastny was cast as the hero once again in overtime, as the U.S. Olympian took a Nathan MacKinnon feed and beat Bryzgalov once again to win the game.
Game 2 will go on Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. EST.