Avalanche slices, dices Wild defense for victory

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Minnesota's Owen Nolan scored on a second-period power play against Colorado goalie Peter Budaj.

Minnesota continued its recent trend of scoring goals, but allowing them at an alarming rate against Colorado was costly.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: December 2, 2008 - 7:08 AM

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COLORADO 6, WILD 5 Up next: 7 p.m. Wednesday vs. St. Louis • Xcel Energy Center • TV: FSN (830-AM)

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Here's a bad recipe: Be in absolute disarray in your defensive zone, then spend virtually the entire first 40 minutes there.

As if the Wild spent their Sunday off-day stuffing themselves with Thanksgiving leftovers, the Colorado Avalanche feasted on the Wild's uncharacteristically poor defensive coverage.

Sure, Minnesota was able to continue its recent trend of actually scoring goals. But the Avalanche hung on for a wild 6-5 victory because the Wild -- mostly its blue-liners -- seemed to have tryptophan leaking from their gloves and skates.

"Every time we play Colorado, what do I mention?" coach Jacques Lemaire said. "They have great skills. If you sleep, they'll fill the net. You have to be sharp in your zone. That's it. If you're not, they'll score six goals.''

"And you know what?" Lemaire continued. "If [Niklas] Backstrom wouldn't have been good tonight, they would have scored 10."

Colorado's forwards spent the first two periods so close to Backstrom's kitchen, he could have fed them breath mints. Showing sympathy, Lemaire pulled his No. 1 goaltender, who gave up a career-high six goals, to open the third period.

The Wild allowed six goals at home for only the fifth time in history and first since Jan. 16, 2006 (6-1 to Ottawa). It was the first time in franchise history the Wild lost when scoring five or more goals (69-1).

"I don't know what happened. There were a lot of weird things," Backstrom said. "We have to be better. It's embarrassing to play like that for 40 minutes at the home rink. No excuses. Nothing. ... We can't do that ever again."

Leading 3-2 after two goals by Pierre-Marc Bouchard and one by Mikko Koivu, the Wild tied a team record by allowing four goals in the second period. Paul Stastny scored two goals and had an assist in that period.

Lemaire ran a longer-than-usual morning skate because he sensed this lack of focus.

"We made so many mistakes there in the first, in the second," Lemaire said. "Concentration wasn't there, all types of mistakes -- two defensemen on one guy, bad support."

On the day defenseman Kim Johnsson was named December captain, he was minus-3. Nick Schultz handed the puck to Milan Hejduk for one goal after Marek Zidlicky failed to clear the zone on a penalty kill.

Martin Skoula was walked around on a goal by Marek Svatos. Johnsson lost David Jones on another goal. Marc-Andre Bergeron got twisted en route to a breakaway goal by T.J. Hensick.

"That was probably the two worst periods we've played all year," Johnsson said. "It was all us. We talked before about the little plays they do to get the puck in front of the net. Our coverage was just not there."

The Wild, which has scored 22 goals the past five games, beat Avs goalie Peter Budaj three times on its first six shots. The Wild's red-hot power play -- it went 3-for-4 after going 5-for-11 in Nashville -- kept the score from being completely one-sided.

Late in the second, Owen Nolan scored for the fourth game in a row. Then, Brent Burns scored with six minutes to left to cut the deficit to 6-5.

"We were still in the game. I don't know how, but we were," Backstrom said, laughing.

In fact, Benoit Pouliot popped in the tying goal -- only an instant after the final horn sounded.

"Yeah, that's funny," Lemaire said. "Two more seconds, we're OK. But we got what we deserved."

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