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Wild just fine in overtime again

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

Pierre-Marc Bouchard (96) scores in overtime past defender Ruslan Salei and Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore to give the Wild a 3-2 victory in Game 3.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s winning shot and Brian Rolston’s hustle give the Wild a series lead.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: April 15, 2008 - 10:41 AM

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GAME 3 • WILD LEADS SERIES 2-1

Wild 3, Colorado 2 (OT)

Game 4: 9 p.m. today in Denver • TV: FSN

SERIES AT A GLANCE

GAME 1: Colorado 3, Wild 2 (OT)

Recap: Joe Sakic provides his usual: an OT winner.

GAME 2: Wild 3, Colorado 2 (OT)

Recap: Keith Carney's OT goal evens the series.

GAME 3: Wild 3, Colorado 2 (OT)

Recap: Pierre-Marc Bouchard finishes off a Wild-dominated OT.

GAME 4: Colorado 5, Wild 1

Recap: The game was rough and the Wild took a tumble.

GAME 5: Colorado 3, Wild 2

Recap: The Wild never led. Sound familiar?

GAME 6: Colorado 2, Wild 1

Recap: No lead, no Game 7, no second round again.

More from Minnesota Wild

DENVER – Kurtis Foster might be laid up in his Uptown home because of a broken femur, but even he would probably understand if the Wild rescinds its wish for the NHL to switch to no-touch icing.

Monday night in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, a beat-out icing by Brian Rolston resulted in Pierre-Marc Bouchard's overtime winner as the Wild snagged a 3-2 victory and 2-1 series advantage with Game 4 tonight at the Pepsi Center.

"Sometimes icings can be dangerous like with Fozzie, but on a play like this, I guess it's good for us," Bouchard said. "OT goal ... in the playoffs, that's my biggest [goal] so far."

In a game that could best be described as an instant Wild classic, the Wild fell behind 1-zip for the third consecutive game. It failed to score in the first 40 minutes for the third consecutive game.

But third-period goals by Mikko Koivu and Rolston allowed the Wild to rally from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead before Joe Sakic's goal with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left forced overtime, the third in a row in the series.

In fact, it's the first time since 1991 that the first three games of a series went to overtime (Edmonton vs. Los Angeles).

"I'll tell you what, I don't think I can go any more OT's," Rolston said, laughing. "It's rough sledding out there."

The Wild was unable to score on a 1:52 power play to open OT, but the Wild dominated the extra session and would have won sooner if Jose Theodore didn't deny two glorious Pavol Demitra scoring chances and one point-blank Marian Gaborik chance -- one of Gaborik's nine shots.

But the Wild continued pressing, and also got strong goaltending from Niklas Backstrom, who made seven of his franchise-playoff-record 44 saves in overtime.

"I felt that we had an edge in overtime," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We got, I think four or five even-six chances in overtime. I thought we would never get one goal on [Theodore], at a time there."

Finally, Bouchard tried to hit Rolston with a home-run pass but misfired.

"I was trying to reach Roli. Everybody thought it was going to be an icing," Bouchard said. "I think it hit the net. Their D (former St. Cloud State star Jeff Finger) went one side, Roli went the other side. He got the puck, I joined the play and Roli made a great pass."

The victory snapped a five-game road playoff losing streak.

Said Lemaire, "I think it's a confidence-builder for us. I look at the game overall, I feel it's one of our best games we've played on the road this year."

For the seventh consecutive playoff game, the Wild surrendered the first goal when Andrew Brunette, who was bound to haunt his old club at some point, scored late in the first period.

The Wild thought it tied the score in the second period, but Stephane Veilleux's tap-in was waved off by referee Tim Peel because Aaron Voros was laying on top of Theodore. But the Wild outshot the Avs 11-1 at one span in the period and continued pressing.

At 7:13 of the third, Koivu's third goal of the series tied the score at 1-1. Theodore whiffed on a dump-in, which allowed Todd Fedoruk to get to the puck before Avs defenseman Adam Foote.

Fedoruk fed an oncoming Koivu, who scored the tying goal.

Then, after Koivu took a tripping minor, the Wild not only killed its sixth minor, but Rolston scored his sixth career shorthanded goal after Sakic tried to pinch in and Demitra popped it out for a 2-on-1.

But the lead wouldn't stand for long -- Sakic scored a back-hander into an open net with Brunette laying on Backstrom.

But the Wild has outscored Colorado 6-2 in the third in the series.

"We came up big tonight," Veilleux said. "Every guy was prepared. We faced adversity and showed composure again by coming back in the third. It's a good sign. The goal was to come here and get home ice back."

But as Backstrom said, the Wild needs to replenish and get ready for tonight.

"It's a big win, but we need four wins," Backstrom said. "Every win is big. But we have to get ready for the next game. It comes fast."