Wild lose West 2nd Round to Avalanche; penalty kill, injuries among factors

DENVER -- The Minnesota Wild were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday.

The Wild held a 3-0 lead in Game 5 only to give up four unanswered goals, including two in the final 3:33 of regulation and defenseman Brett Kulak's winner 3:52 into overtime.

Minnesota advanced to the second round by defeating the Dallas Stars in six games in the first round, its first Stanley Cup Playoff series win since 2015.

Minnesota (46-24-12) was the third seed in the Central Division.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, F, Robby Fabbri, F; Nick Foligno, F; Marcus Johansson, F; Ben Jones, F, Michael McCarron, F; Vladimir Tarasenko, F; Mats Zuccarello, F; Zach Bogosian, D; Jeff Petry, D; Cal Petersen, G

Potential restricted free agents: Bobby Brink, F; Daemon Hunt, D, Carson Lambos, D, David Spacek, D

Potential 2026 Draft picks: 5

Here are five reasons why the Wild were eliminated:

1. Not enough from Boldy, Kaprizov

Forwards Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov each had their moments in the series, but there weren't enough of them for Minnesota to force the series beyond five games.

Kaprizov dominated Game 3, scoring a goal and dishing out two assists while being on the ice for all five Wild goals in a 5-1 win. But he had just one shot on goal in the last two games, none in Game 5.

Boldy had two assists in the first period of Game 5, helping Minnesota build a 3-0 lead, and had chances in overtime too. He finished the game with a team-high five shots on goal and 10 shot attempts. But his only goal in the series was an empty-netter in Game 3.

Between the two they combined for 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in the series, but with the Avalanche getting nine points each from center Nathan MacKinnon (five goals, four assists) and forward Martin Necas (one goal, eight assists), what Boldy and Kaprizov totaled was not near enough to lift the Wild.

2. Penalty kill problems

Minnesota could never solve the issues that plagued it on the penalty kill. In fact, the Wild allowed a power-play goal in 10 consecutive games in the playoffs before killing off Colorado's lone power-play opportunity in Game 5.

They got by in the first round despite a PK that was just 60.0 percent, allowing 10 goals on 25 Stars' power plays. The difference there was their 5-on-5 play was elite, outscoring Dallas 14-4.

But the PK continued to struggle against the Avalanche, and this time their 5-on-5 play didn't save them. Minnesota was 61.5 percent on the PK (five goals on 13 chances) and outscored 14-11 at 5-on-5. They were 3-for-13 on the power play (23.1 percent).

3. Injuries to Eriksson Ek, Brodin

Even at max capacity, the Wild would have had a massive challenge to defeat the Avalanche four out of seven times. But without top center Joel Eriksson Ek and arguably their top shutdown defenseman in Jonas Brodin, it became a task too great.

Neither played in the series because of lower-body injuries sustained in the first round against Dallas; Brodin in Game 5 and Eriksson Ek in Game 6.

Without them, Minnesota had to rely on rookie center Danila Yurov to play a top-six role until replacing him on the second line with Michael McCarron in Game 6, and attempt to bandage their defense pairs after Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber.

Yurov was a healthy scratch for Games 5 and 6 against the Stars, and although he showed flashes, the Wild couldn't ask him to replace Eriksson Ek, who is an impact player in every situation, touching all parts of Minnesota's game.

Jake Middleton started the series playing in Brodin's spot next to Jared Spurgeon, but that lasted two games with ineffective results until he was put back there in Game 5. And that didn't work either; Middleton was on the ice for Colorado's last three goals.

Daemon Hunt was solid in replacing Brodin in the lineup, but Minnesota missed the Sweden-born defenseman, especially when trying to protect the lead Wednesday.

4. Center depth overall

The Wild found out the hard way what they probably already knew, that their center depth doesn't match up with Colorado's and until it does, they likely will lag behind the top team in the Central Division.

Colorado was able to use MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury as its four centers. They each have defined roles and each contributed at some point in the series to help push the Avalanche to victory.

The Wild had Ryan Hartman, Yurov, McCarron and Nico Sturm down the middle. It would have looked different with Eriksson Ek, but Minnesota's centers didn't produce, generate, forecheck or make the type of impact at the level of Colorado's centers.

Center depth remains an issue in Minnesota that general manager Bill Guerin is almost certainly going to try to solve in the offseason.

5. Game 5

The Wild had a 3-0 lead after a dominant first period on Wednesday. They were in control and 40 minutes away from forcing a Game 6 back in St. Paul at Grand Casino Arena. They were in the exact position they were hoping to be in and playing the exact way they wanted to be playing.

It did not last.

They're entering the offseason after five games against the Avalanche because instead of trying to build on the 3-0 lead they built in Game 5 at Ball Arena, they tried to protect it, hang onto it, as forward Marcus Foligno said, and attempting to do that for 40 minutes against Colorado is a recipe for disaster.

Forward Parker Kelly scored in the second period. Centers Jack Drury and Nathan MacKinnon scored late in the third. Kulak scored in overtime.

The Wild had no push and managed seven shots on goal after their dominant first period, none in overtime.