Wild's season ends in frustration in Denver

DENVER — The Wild's season is over.

The Wild had big aspirations when training camp began seven months ago, but Saturday night at the Pepsi Center, it was dispatched in the first round when the Colorado Avalanche took a 2-1 Game 6 victory to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

Wild fans will have to settle for a Northwest Division championship banner in October. Winning the competitive division was an achievement, but the Wild, which will look quite different next fall, felt it had a chance to accomplish a whole lot more.

"To lose in the first round again is very disappointing," veteran Brian Rolston said. "[Colorado goalie Jose] Theodore definitely played a role in this series. In a series like this, a hot goalie can take you out. I think that's what happened.

"I thought we outplayed them badly at home, and he snuck out two wins. Tonight, we had enough to get a bounce go our way. It wasn't like last year. We thought we were in this one."

But it's not easy winning playoff rounds when you're constantly chasing, and that was the Wild's downfall.

It led 4 minutes, 31 seconds out of a possible 384:23.

It never got the first goal of the series, and Saturday's first Avalanche goal was a momentum killer -- a Ben Guite first-period shorthanded breakaway goal.

"We had to come from behind so many times," Rolston said. "That could have been the difference, to play with the lead. But you take the hand that is dealt."

Aaron Voros, who hadn't scored since Dec. 26, tied the score 36 seconds into the second period on Marian Gaborik's first point of the series. The Wild dominated the next 10 minutes, outshooting Colorado 10-2 at a time. But Theodore never surrendered the go-ahead goal, and after a Mikko Koivu neutral-zone turnover, Ryan Smyth scored the eventual winner 12:20 into the second.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of," Gaborik said. "We worked hard, battled hard. Everybody left everything out there. After that goal, we put pressure on them. We could have been one goal up and instead they took the lead."

Gaborik finished the playoffs with only the one assist.

"If I was producing, I'm sure it would have made a difference," Gaborik said. "It was very tight out there. They did a great job defensively. I tried to find a way every game. Either it was tight or there was Theodore. Things didn't work out the way I wanted it to. I've just got to learn from this."

It's easy to pin everything on Gaborik, and no doubt he'll receive the majority of the blame this summer (does the Wild offer him a $10 million-a-year extension now?).

But the Wild also got little from a number of players.

Eric Belanger, whom Lemaire predicted would get "80 points" after racking up seven in his first seven games, scored one goal since Jan. 13 and no goals and two assists since Feb. 20. He was pointless in the series.

Pavol Demitra had one goal in the series, Derek Boogaard had no points this season, rookie James Sheppard didn't score a goal after Jan. 30. Stephane Veilleux didn't have a point in the series.

Keith Carney's overtime goal in Game 2 was the only goal from the blue line in the series.

The Wild has several decisions to make.

Rolston and Demitra are its two biggest free agents. The team likely will be able to keep only one, and even that's not guaranteed.

Todd Fedoruk and Branko Radivojevic are free agents the team might try to keep, but it likely will let Carney, Sean Hill, Petteri Nummelin and Chris Simon go. The return of Voros, also a free agent, is up in the air.

There's also speculation General Manager Doug Risebrough could be a candidate for the Toronto Maple Leafs' GM job, and Lemaire said he had to decide if he was to return as coach.

"Obviously the first division title for the organization is something special," Voros said. "But the ultimate goal for this club was the Stanley Cup. Obviously, we're disappointed. We're not satisfied with the way this ended."