Puck finds Carney for game-winner

There he was on the left point, alone. Keith Carney was banging his stick on the ice. "I'm open," he was saying. "I'm open."

It was like he was Brian Rolston, or Kurtis Foster. Or, since Carney is 38 years old, how about kicking it, old-school: Al MacInnis.

The Wild was in overtime, and times were tough. Minnesota held a 2-1 lead into the last minute of regulation only to have what the team felt was a questionable hooking call on Kim Johnsson get turned into the Milan Hejduk's game-tying goal with 46 seconds left.

Overtime, again.

But there he was, on the point. Unguarded, as teammate Mikko Koivu worked to start the cycle behind Avalanche goaltender Jose Theodore. Skating away from Joe Sakic -- Wednesday's overtime hero -- Koivu backhanded the puck out, aiming for Rolston in front of the net. Avalanche defenseman Ruslan Salei got his stick on the puck and tried to clear it off the sideboard.

He didn't.

The puck came, finally, to Carney. The man who has played in 87 career playoff games and scored his third career playoff goal Friday. The man who, asked after the game when was the last time he'd scored an overtime game-winner, had to go back to Midget hockey.

Maybe. "I don't know," he said. "It's been so long I can't really remember."

Carney, who was about to be the man of the hour.

He controlled the puck and let a slapshot go. It headed toward the far side of the net, past Rolston, off Salei's skate and in at 1:14 of overtime.

Carney had just scored his first playoff goal since 1999. That would be the last decade.

"Just got to get it to the right guy," he quipped. "Get it to the hot hand."

In a way, he's right. Carney hadn't scored a goal all year until he scored in Colorado in the regulation finale. Now he's scored two goals in three games, the second being perhaps the biggest goal of his life.

Hot hand, cool head.

"I don't think I was calling for [the puck]," Carney said. "I was just hoping we scored. It was a good play by Mikko getting in there to forecheck. After Game 1, it was just about getting more pucks and bodies to the net. We were fortunate it worked out in that situation."

Perhaps it's only right that a hard-working defensive defenseman scored Friday's game-winner.

The Wild's blue line has been ravaged by injuries and illness. First Kurtis Foster, then Nick Schultz. At the end of Game 1 Martin Skoula took a puck off his leg just before Colorado's overtime game-winner and was listed as only possible for Game 2.

Skoula, who has missed just five games because of injury in his career, played. And he played well. He played 26 minutes and 12 seconds. Johnsson and Brent Burns played 27:16 and 26:20 respectively.

"Let's put it this way," center Eric Belanger said. "I'm just glad it ended quick. We had some guys playing big minutes out there."

Turns out the answer was to get it to the hot hand, though Carney paid for it. Burns worried he might have knocked his mentor out during the celebration. Skoula said Carney joked about blacking out once they all got into the dressing room.

Carney?

"That's the way it always is," Rolston said. "You watch the playoffs. It's a shot off a skate, it's a wraparound goal. The puck bounces off someone. That's what happens in overtimes. And that's exactly what happened tonight."

And, though he might deny it, it seemed Carney knew it could happen, too. That's why he was banging his stick on the ice, calling for the puck. Funny thing is, none of his teammates got it to him. The puck seemed to find Carney on its own. And now the Wild is going to Colorado tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven series instead of an 0-2 hole.

"It was just awesome," Burns said.

Yes, Carney said, it was.

"Oh, it feels good," he said with a smile. "It was a must-win for us, obviously. It feels good to get the win. Now we can put this behind us and go on to Game 3."