Minnesota 3, Colorado 1
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, April 27, 2013
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Referees:
Francois St.Laurent, Brad Watson
Linesmen:
Steve Barton, Lonnie Cameron
Attendance:
17731
By SportsDirect Inc.
Wild 3, Avalanche 1: Devin Setoguchi scored on the power play and Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves as visiting Minnesota clinched a playoff berth.
Zach Parise and Pierre-Marc Bouchard also tallied for the Wild, who needed a win to get into the postseason after Columbus and Detroit had both emerged victorious earlier on Saturday. Minnesota secured the eighth seed in the Western Conference and will face Presidents' Trophy-winning Chicago in the first round.
Ryan O’Reilly tallied and Semyon Varlamov turned aside 30 shots on his 25th birthday as Colorado clinched the worst record in the West.
Parise gathered the rebound of captain Mikko Koivu’s shot and stuffed it past Varlamov on the doorstep to put the Wild on the board 6:42 into the contest. The Avalanche responded to tie it with 1:53 left in the period as O’Reilly sent a wrist shot past Backstrom.
Setoguchi put Minnesota on top for good with 7:40 left in the second period when he skated to the top of the right faceoff circle and blasted a slap shot past Varlamov. Bouchard put it away into the empty-net goal with four seconds remaining.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota had missed out on a chance to clinch a playoff spot on Friday with a lopsided 6-1 loss to Northwest Division-rival Edmonton. Backstrom allowed three goals on five shots before being lifted in that contest. … Colorado (39 points) finished only ahead of NHL-worst Florida (36 points). … Wild RW Jason Pominville (concussion) sat out his second straight game.
Top Game Performances
| Minnesota |
|
Colorado |
|
Pierre-Marc Bouchard 1 |
Points |
Ryan O'Reilly 1 |
|
Pierre-Marc Bouchard 1 |
Goals |
Ryan O'Reilly 1 |
|
Cal Clutterbuck 1 |
Assists |
Patrick Bordeleau 1 |
|
Devin Setoguchi 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Niklas Backstrom .967 |
Save Percentage |
Semyon Varlamov .938 |
|
Niklas Backstrom 29 |
Saves |
Semyon Varlamov 30 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Minnesota
|
33 |
3 |
1-3 |
1-1 |
2 |
24 |
| Colorado
|
30 |
1 |
0-1 |
2-3 |
6 |
26 |
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