DENVER — Kaapo Kahkonen didn't know where the puck ended up.
Wild West showdown: Avalanche slips past Wild in 4-3 shootout victory
Kirill Kaprizov had two goals, including the tying score with the goalie pulled. But it wasn't enough as Colorado benefited from a controversial late goal to win its 14th in a row at home.
January 18, 2022 at 1:05PM
The Wild goaltender sprawled out as the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon shoveled a shot on net, but Kahkonen didn't feel the puck underneath his pads.
He also didn't see it behind the goal line.
"I can't really tell where it is exactly," Kahkonen said.
Following a lengthy video review, the NHL decided Colorado scored, a ruling the Wild was still analyzing after the game.
But what didn't require a second opinion was the Wild's effort.
The team's spunky turnaround nearly extinguished the Avalanche's franchise-record unbeaten streak at home before Colorado prevailed 4-3 in a shootout on Monday afternoon in front of an announced 17,565 for its 14th consecutive victory at Ball Arena.
As for the Wild, this was its first loss in the past four games.
"Very, very proud of the way that we competed," coach Dean Evason said. "If that could have ended in a tie, that would have been better, obviously. But we did enough things to have success in this hockey game."
Kirill Kaprizov twice delivered the game-tying goal in the third period, with the second coming less than a minute after that scrutinized MacKinnon finish at 16 minutes, 28 seconds.
The explanation Evason received from the officials was that they never saw the puck cross the goal line, but the league determined the puck did and overturned the initial no-goal call on the ice.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing the NHL Network or them sending out that video to see what angle they had that shows the puck in the net," Evason said. "That puck could be in his crotch. It could be anywhere. And sure, you can assume that it's in the net. But that's not the rule. That's not what it's there for, and I'm really looking forward to the league putting that out. That would be great."
Two shifts later, the Wild replied with its NHL-leading 12th goal at 6-on-5 when Kaprizov wired a rebound past the Avalanche's Pavel Francouz with 2:51 to go in regulation before leaping into the boards.
Earlier in the third period, when he tied the score at 2-2 on a shot that dribbled by Francouz at 6:46, Kaprizov also celebrated exuberantly by jumping on his skates. This was the sixth multigoal game of his career, and he has 12 points over his past six games. He is also now tied with Ryan Hartman for the most goals on the Wild at 16.
"I was very excited to have scored those two goals," Kaprizov said in Russian through a translator.
In between Kaprizov's goals, the Wild dominated, an about-face from the first period when Colorado was in control en route to a two-goal head start.
After back-to-back penalties by the Wild, Mikko Rantanen buried a bounce off the end boards at 15:57 during a 5-on-3 before Alex Newhook scored on a one-timer at 17:39. Colorado finished 1-for-4 on the power play, and the Wild went 0-for-2.
Kevin Fiala started the comeback only 33 seconds into the second period when he cut to the middle with a Matt Boldy pass and flicked a backhander by the Avalanche's Darcy Kuemper.
The former Wild goalie started the game for Colorado but left the action later in the second with 12 saves after a collision with the Wild's Jordan Greenway, who fought Kurtis MacDermid in the aftermath, with MacDermid getting penalized for instigating.
"I haven't looked at it, to be honest," Greenway said. "I think he was maybe out of the crease a little bit. I didn't even really try to intentionally give it to him. I just skated through and ended up clipping him. Then the fight, you've got to kind of expect it from a guy like that."
Kuemper was replaced by Francouz, who had 25 stops in relief. Kahkonen, in another strong showing to sit 7-1-2 in his past 11 appearances, made 35 for the Wild.
During the shootout, Kahkonen fended off MacKinnon before Rantanen capitalized. Kaprizov, Fiala and Mats Zuccarello, who set up both Kaprizov goals to extend his point streak to a season-high six games, were blanked on their chances.
That outcome netted the Wild only one point in the standings, but the performance still made quite the statement.
"To go down two early and find a way to come back and make it a game like we did," Greenway said, "I think shows a lot about our group."
The NHL’s coaching carousel revealed itself again, a fight reminded us what has changed, and of course there was unpredictable matter involving a goalie.
