Minnesota-Colorado: The Most Exciting Series You Won't See?

Last night’s game in Minneapolis may have been the most exciting Game One played yesterday. Unfortunately, you had to live in either the Minneapolis-St. Paul area or the Denver area to see it. It’s inevitable that this matchup would get lost among the more marquee matchups. How can a Gaborik-Sakic matchup compare to just the mention of Crosby or Ovechkin?

Because the Avalanche and Wild are so evenly matched (with the exception of special teams), fans knew last night’s game would get a little wild. And it did deliver, with shots that hit the goalpost, a penalty shot, a disallowed goal, an injury and two goalies who turned in stellar performances.

Despite the fact that Colorado won in overtime on Joe Sakic’s goal, the Wild dominated play. Despite out-shooting Colorado 20-7, the Wild didn’t quite manage to get the job done. Even the strong outing by Mikko Koivu, who notched a goal and an assist on the night was not enough.

“We were a little concerned,” said Avalanche captain Joe Sakic after the game.

Theodore brought his “A” game, facing 30 shots total and giving up just two goals.  Combined with the fact that the Avalanche got a lot of little breaks, and Colorado walked away with the overtime win.

"The intensity was at its best. Players were at their best," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "That's the playoffs; you get a break here and there and you turn out to be in great shape."

Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom practically stood on his head at times and denied Ryan Smyth the penalty shot after Kurtis Foster covered the puck in the crease with his hand.

The Wild defense, despite being severely decimated and losing yet another player when Nick Schultz had an emergency appendectomy earlier this week, stayed calm and took only two penalties on the night.

The Avalanche on the other hand, took six penalties. Lucky for them the Wild power play seemed to be experiencing outages.

Game Two is tomorrow night in St. Paul and will be broadcast nationally. With two teams so evenly matched, it’s going to be a tight, hard-fought series that deserves more attention than it’s getting. It might just be the most exciting first round series we’ll see this year.

Notes: Joe Sakic scored his eighth career playoff overtime goal, breaking his own record…Mark Parrish left the game in the second period with a head injury…Kurt Sauer’s goal was his second this year.