The Colorado Avalanche have not closed out a playoff series at home in nearly 20 years. They have a chance to do just that when they host the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Wednesday night in Denver.
Colorado took a 3-1 series lead with a 5-2 win in Saint Paul on Monday night and improved to 7-1 in these playoffs. A win Wednesday would give the Avalanche a chance to celebrate a series win at home for the first time since beating Minnesota in Game 6 of the 2008 Western Conference quarterfinals.
The Wild, however, have shown resilience against Colorado in past postseasons, winning Game 7s in overtime twice. They trailed 3-1 in 2003 only to rally and win that series, and in 2014 they were down 2-0 and 3-2 before prevailing in seven games.
It will be tougher for Minnesota to match those comebacks without defenseman Jonas Brodin and top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek, neither of whom traveled to Denver with the team on Tuesday. Brodin and Eriksson Ek have not played in this series because of lower-body injuries.
The Wild dominated Game 3 at home without the pair and hope to repeat that in Game 5, but they acknowledge they have to be better than their Game 4 effort.
“I don’t think we played fully to our identity, and I think everyone in this room knows that,” Minnesota forward Matt Boldy said. “We can’t change (Game 4). We would have loved to have it, but can’t change it.”
Colorado is dealing with injuries as well. Forward Artturi Lehkonen and defenseman Sam Malinski missed Monday’s game with upper-body injuries and Nathan MacKinnon took a puck to the nose at the end of the second period Monday night.
He didn’t miss a shift and scored into an empty net to seal Game 4.
Lehkonen and Malinski both participated in Monday’s morning skate but were scratched. Head coach Jared Bednar said Tuesday that they are day-to-day and their availability will be determined after Wednesday’s morning skate.
“They mean a lot to the team,” goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood said. “But I think anybody we throw in there, they know what the job is and how to do it. I think we’re pretty resilient.”
Blackwood, who took over for Scott Wedgewood in Game 3, got his first start of this postseason on Monday night and stopped 19 of 21 shots. Bednar has asserted he has confidence in both goaltenders, and Blackwood showed why with some key saves in the third period.
Defenseman Josh Manson returned to the lineup after missing four games (upper body) and made an immediate impact — good and bad. He was strong defensively but drew a double minor in the first period when he butt-ended Wild forward Michael McCarron.
Minnesota scored on the back end of the power play, which the team thought should have been a major and a game misconduct.
Manson was fined $5,000 by the league on Tuesday but was not suspended, and Bednar defended his veteran defenseman.
“I don’t see him as a dirty player,” Bednar said. “He’s a physical guy, though, and he’s going to play hard in between the whistles.”
