Wild-Avs ready for a rematch

DENVER - Finally, after 82 games and 186 days, the Wild has established its first-round playoff opponent, and it's a familiar one.

Five years after rallying from a 3-1 series deficit to upset Colorado, the Wild and Avalanche will meet again in the Western Conference quarterfinals in Game 1 at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday.

Quite possibly, the third period and overtime of Sunday's game -- a 4-3 Avalanche shootout victory in the regular-season finale at Pepsi Center -- might have set the tone for a fiery series.

"It reminded me of an All-Star game with not a whole lot of intensity until things picked up in the end," Brian Rolston said. "This is going to be a big battle now."

With the Avalanche leading 3-2 in the third period and it looking more and more likely that Colorado and the Wild would meet in the first round (all the Avs needed was a point), Colorado winger Ian Laperriere, a veteran of 161 NHL fights, did everything he could to get inside Wild star Marian Gaborik's head.

Taking advantage of a rare Gaborik third-period shift without bruising linemate Todd Fedoruk on the ice, Laperriere locked onto Gaborik's stick, collared his arm around Gaborik's head and drove Gaborik hard where the glass ends and the Avalanche bench begins.

"It was just battling on the boards and stuff," Laperriere said.

Then, at the end of overtime and knowing there was nobody but Wild skilled players on the ice, Laperriere again collided with Gaborik, the shocking result being Gaborik's first fighting major in 485 career games.

"We kind of collided, pushed, shoved and just happened to drop the gloves," said Gaborik, his right hand covered in gashes. "It happened so quick. It shows things are heating up. It's going to be a tough series. It's going to be a battle like five years ago."

When the Wild next meets Colorado, Gaborik plans to "play my game and leave that stuff for other guys."

And those "other guys," Fedoruk, Derek Boogaard and Chris Simon, weren't happy with Laperriere's antics.

"Obviously I'm going to be playing in the first game," said Boogaard, who was scratched Sunday. "We'll see if somebody has a problem then."

"We'll see if [Laperriere] does it again and on who," coach Jacques Lemaire said.

Added Fedoruk, "That's part of [Laperriere's] role to go after our captain and key guy. He's trying to say something going into the series. But it's my job to be alert when I play with Gabby and Pav [Demitra]. This just kind of sets the table for a tough series."

As Wild defenseman Sean Hill joked, the Avalanche showed just how much it didn't want to play Stanley Cup contender San Jose, with how it emerged in the third period. Trailing 2-1, the Avs took a 3-2 lead on power-play goals by Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk before Rolston tied the score at 3-3 with 3:21 left to send the game into overtime.

The Wild failed on parts of two power plays in OT, then Wojtek Wolski and Sakic scored on both of Colorado's shots on Josh Harding in the shootout as the Avalanche entered the playoffs on a 5-0-1 run.

Paul Stastny also scored for the Avs, and Peter Forsberg assisted on all three goals for his third three-assist game in his past four.

And here's a scary thought: Forsberg, signed by Colorado on Feb. 25, seems to have found his game. He was outstanding Sunday, and has 12 points in his past five games.

"Now the fun starts," Forsberg said. "I think [Minnesota] can play much better than we played them [Sunday], so it's going to be hard. They can play much better and they can play much more physical."