Wild vs. Avalanche Game 4: Colorado scores 4 in the third to push Minnesota to the brink

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksNHL mock draftUFA big boardPlayoff bracketRed Light NewsletterStanley Cup The Avalanche celebrate Nazem Kadri's goal in the first period on Monday. David Berding / Getty Images Share article2ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Colorado Avalanche showed Monday night why they’re everybody’s favorite to win their second Stanley Cup in five years. Besides the fact that they rebounded impeccably from a Game 3 loss by dominating the first half of Game 4, they proved their resilience in the third period after Minnesota Wild forward Nico Sturm tied the game. Maybe the Wild took one giant, premature deep breath, but the Avs responded by pressuring the Wild mightily for three shifts in a row until Jake Middleton’s chip off the glass was picked off for Parker Kelly’s eventual winning goal in a 5-2 win. The victory puts Colorado one win from the Western Conference final and means the Wild will have to reel off three consecutive victories — starting Wednesday night in Denver — to keep their season alive. The Wild have rallied from 3-1 deficits to win series twice before — both in 2003, and once against Colorado. Minnesota was put on the ropes midway through the third when Ross Colton buried Nicolas Roy’s pass after a Daemon Hunt turnover. But just 2:19 later, Sturm, the former Avalanche Stanley Cup winner and a healthy scratch the first two games of this postseason, tied the game. Robbed twice earlier in the period by Mackenzie Blackwood, Sturm one-timed Quinn Hughes’ pass into a wide-open cage for his first goal of the playoffs and third in 37 career playoff games. Jesper Wallstedt, especially, deserved better. For a period-and-a-half, Wallstedt, despite the Wild gaining an early 1-0 lead on rookie Danila Yurov’s power-play goal, was a man alone on an island. He stopped 10 shots in each of the first two periods, with the Wild going nearly 19 minutes without a shot at one point and being outshot 20-4 before registering eight of the final nine shots of the period. But before that, Yakov Trenin took his second careless penalty of the series, and it led to Nazem Kadri’s game-tying goal six seconds into a power play. Wallstedt finished with 29 saves. Blackwood, in his first start of the playoffs, made 18 saves for his fourth career playoff win in nine appearances. The Avs did a masterful job on Wild stars Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, who had one shot each. Boldy had a particularly tough night, turning pucks over left and right — the final one coming on Nathan MacKinnon’s empty-netter, which was the first of two empty-netters by the Avs (Brock Nelson). Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms