Friday, October 10, 2014
Sports News

Wild dominate Avalanche, 5-0

Send a link to a friend  Share

[October 10, 2014]  By Jess Myers, The Sports Xchange
 
 Wild dominate Avalanche, 5-0
 
 SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- At the start of a hockey season where expectations are sky-high in Minnesota, the Wild could hardly have scripted a better first act.

Minnesota left winger Zach Parise scored a goal and set up two more as his team made an emphatic season debut, blasting past the Colorado Avalanche 5-0 on Thursday.

Right wingers Jason Pominville and Nino Neiderreiter, and defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter added goals for the Wild, who got a 16-save shutout from goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

"This was a combination of we were good tonight, there's no question, and let's not kid ourselves. Colorado was not at their best. I think we helped in that," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "We had a good start. It might have taken them off their game a little bit. So, to sit here and expect us to go and play 82 games like that, it's not going to happen."

It was a quiet start for Colorado, which won the Central Division title last season but was upset by the Wild in a seven-game playoff series in the opening round. Avalanche goalie Seymon Varlamov stopped 33 of the 38 shots he faced in the opening two periods, giving way to Reto Berra, who made 10 saves on 10 shots in the final 20 minutes.



"It was a night where we just weren't nearly good enough," Avalanche right winger Jarome Iginla said. "They played well and we didn't. It's the beginning of the year. We've got to get our battle level up and compete. That's what we'll take from it."

Minnesota dominated the Avalanche from the start, forcing Varlamov to make six saves in the first 62 seconds while holding Colorado without a shot on goal during a pair of first period power plays.

Outshooting Colorado 15-2 with 5:06 left in the first, Minnesota finally broke through. Suter fed center Mikael Granlund with a long lead pass, and the Finn's wrist shot was stopped by Varlamov. But the sizable rebound went to the front of the net. Pominville needed only a tap-in into the mostly-empty net for the Wild's first goal of the season.

"It was fun. Those games are fun, getting chances a lot," said Parise. "When our line is playing well that's the way we want to play, support each other two-on-one when we get a chance. I thought tonight we did a good job of bringing it to the net. So it was a good start for us."

Spurgeon doubled Minnesota's lead early in the second, putting a shot between Varlamov's skates after a feed from Parise. After a scrap behind the Avalanche net left the teams skating 4-on-4, Parise broke hard to the net and snapped his own rebound past Varlamov for a 3-0 lead. Neiderreiter and Suter added goals before the second was done, prompting Avalanche coach Patrick Roy to give his goalie a third period of rest.

[to top of second column]

"I have a lot more to worry (about) than our goaltenders right now," Roy said. "The way we're playing, offensively. We were hiding behind it in the preseason. Now we cannot hide it any more. We're going to have to compete. We're going to have to go to the net. We're going to have to change our little game. Right now we're too fancy. We're going to have to put more pucks to the net, have to compete in the corners."

Colorado, which lost star forward Paul Stastny to free agency in the offseason, added veteran Iginla to what was considered an already-potent lineup.

"What a game by the guys in front of me. Outstanding work by them," said Kuemper, who recorded his third career shutout.

At 24, Kuemper is the youngest goalie to start a season opener for Minnesota.

"I didn't have to do much tonight," he said.

The Wild improved to 12-0-2 all-time in home openers and set a franchise record with 48 shots on goal for the game.

NOTES: The only member of Colorado's 23-man roster not to make the trek to St. Paul for the opener was C Jesse Winchester, who is recovering from a concussion. ... Minnesota had LW Matt Cooke on the second line at least temporarily, while RW Justin Fontaine recovers from an upper-body injury he sustained in the preseason. Fontaine is skating in practice and is expected to make his season debut soon. ... The Wild's 2014-15 media guide features a first-page dedication to Bob Suter, the late father of Minnesota D Ryan Suter. Bob Suter, a member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Olympic team, died of a heart attack in early September. He was 57. ... In a flashback to their first-round playoff series from last spring, the Wild and Avalanche get a rematch 48 hours later, facing each other in Denver on Saturday night.

-----------------------------------------------

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

< Sports index

Back to top