Avalanche bounce back to beat the
Wild 5-2 and take a 3-1 lead in the series
[May 12, 2026]
By DAVE CAMPBELL
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ross Colton and Parker Kelly each scored in
the third period for Colorado, an opportune time for their first
goals of the postseason as the high-scoring Avalanche snapped back
from a midseries lull and beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 in Game 4 on
Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the second round of the NHL
playoffs.
“It’s just about staying ready,” Kelly said, “and all these guys in
here are ready.”
Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves in his first start this postseason
after relieving Scott Wedgewood during a 5-1 loss in Game 3 on
Saturday, and the Avalanche moved within one win of taking the first
spot in the Western Conference finals. Game 5 will be in Denver on
Wednesday.
“You’re never going to be perfect after 30 days off, so I just try
to do my best to stay sharp,” said Blackwood, who learned the day
before he would be starting.
Nazem Kadri scored on a power play in the second period, and Nathan
MacKinnon — who had a brief absence to fix a bloody nose from a puck
to the face — and Brock Nelson added empty-net goals in the final
minute.
Nico Sturm tied the game at 2 for Minnesota with his first goal of
the postseason about two minutes after Colton scored, but the Wild
were outshot 20-4 over roughly the first half of the game by an
energized Colorado offense.
Rookie Danila Yurov scored his first career postseason goal on a
deflection midway through the first period for the Wild during a
four-minute power play prompted by a double minor penalty on
defenseman Josh Manson, but they failed to consistently get pucks
deep into the offensive zone and allowed their crowd-noise advantage
to all but disappear during their slog of a second period before
coming to life down the stretch.
[to top of second column] |
Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri (91) celebrates with
defenseman Cale Makar (8) after scoring a goal during the second
period of Game 4 in an NHL Stanley Cup hockey second-round playoff
series against the Minnesota Wild Monday, May 11, 2026, in St. Paul,
Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
“The style of game that we needed to play to win
the game, we didn’t,” coach John Hynes said. "We made the conscious
choice not to play that way tonight, so we’ll readdress that and
then we’ll get ready for Game 5.”
After leading the NHL in goals during the regular season while
posting the league's best record, the Avalanche scored 14 times over
the first two games before Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt stonewalled
them in Game 3.
But Colton, whose wrist shot was set up by a slick across-the-slot
pass by linemate Nicolas Roy, became the 15th player to score for
the Avalanche in just eight postseason games this spring. Then Kelly
made it 16.
“They were doing a lot of what we want to do — quick with the puck,
get it down deep, work our players down low," Wallstedt said. “They
got a lot of pucks to the net. They were creating rebounds. They
were creating scoring chances. We want to do the exact same thing.
It just took a little longer for us to get there.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
