Denver, CO (My Sportsbook) - Manny Fernandez made 26 saves in his first playoff start, as the Minnesota Wild staved off elimination with a 3-2 victory over the
Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the Pepsi Center.
The Wild, who won the opener of the best-of-seven series and dropped the next three games, built a 3-0 lead and held on as Colorado scored twice in the third to make it close. The Avalanche can still wrap up the series with a victory in Game 6 on Monday in St. Paul. Game 7, if necessary, would return to Denver on Tuesday.
"I'm just going to tell the guys to play as well as they've been playing," said Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire.
Willie Mitchell, Filip Kuba and Pascal Dupuis scored for Minnesota, which had posted a total of three goals in the past three games. Dupuis added an assist.
Steven Reinprecht and Rob Blake scored for the Avalanche, while Patrick Roy finished with 25 saves in defeat.
Colorado trailed 3-0 and mustered just 13 shots against Fernandez and the Wild's defensive system through two periods, then came out flying in the third and finally beat the netminder just over two minutes into the period.
Reinprecht scored his 10th career playoff goal on a rebound in the slot to make it 3-1. Fernandez then stopped every shot he faced and the Wild killed off three Avalanche power plays until Colorado pulled Roy for an extra attacker with just over a minute to play.
Blake finally beat Fernandez again with just 27.4 seconds to play, backhanding home a shot from the slot after a goalmouth scramble.
Colorado continued to pressure the Minnesota net after the faceoff and Joe Sakic had a shot from the top of the left circle turned aside by Fernandez. Derek Morris missed the net on a shot after another faceoff and the Wild were able to clear the zone to hold on for the victory.
"I was pretty happy with my start," said Fernandez, who had just 19 minutes of playoff experience with Dallas before replacing Dwayne Roloson in Game 4. "The goaltender coach told me to be ready. I just never lost focus over [the last] two days."
Minnesota had not lost four straight games all season and scored the all- important first goal. The winner of each game in this series scored first.
The Wild took a 1-0 lead just 3:41 into the game, as Mitchell scored his first career playoff goal. The teams were skating four aside when Mitchell ripped a shot from the right point that skipped off the top of Roy's right pad and caromed off his blocker before going into the net.
"We don't ever talk about getting the first goal," said Lemaire. "We talk about getting a good start. I want them to play very sound hockey at the start."
Minnesota failed to score on two power-play chances later in the first period, including one that carried over to the second, then cashed in another chance with the man-advantage at 3:45 of the second after Blake was sent off for tripping.
A couple of neat passes, including a touch pass by Marian Gaborik in the slot, set up a scoring chance for Sergei Zholtok in the right circle. Zholtok's shot hit a skate in front of the net and the puck deflected into the slot for Kuba, who rifled a shot past a diving Roy for his second goal of the series.
"We got the goals today," Gaborik said. "All five games we [have been] working hard, but the goals just didn't come. We have to repeat this game in front of our fans. It will be great. Hopefully we'll get some breaks."
Dupuis then took advantage of a Colorado turnover to make it 3-0 with 1:18 left in the second. He intercepted a Greg de Vries pass at the Colorado blue line, skated into the zone and unleashed a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Roy to the stick side.
"I just tried to go through the middle and they just got it," de Vries said about his turnover.
Minnesota dominated the second period, outshooting Colorado 14-5. The Wild improved to 32-0-1 this season when leading after two periods.
"When they get the lead, they are tough," de Vries said. "When they get the lead, then they are a different team."
