The streak of an overtime game per day may be gone, but it restarted Monday night in Minneapolis. The Wild were on the ropes and switched out goalies, going with Darcy Kuemper.
The young goaltender replaced Ilya Bryzgalov, after Bryz went 0-2 in Colorado. With the hopes of closing the gap in the series, the Wild came out with all the momentum.
In a scoreless game through regulation both teams had opportunities, but the goaltending was superb. Semyon Varlamov, who has been stellar so far this series, looked calm and focused all night. Varlamov made 44 saves in regulation before heading to overtime. Kuemper had a modest 20, as the Wild kept the pressure on the Avalanche all night.
All that pressure finally paid off just five minutes into the overtime period. Mikael Granlund found the back of the net on a circus like play, for his first goal of his playoff career. Not to be one-upped, Darcy Kuemper, picked up his first playoff win, and the franchise’s first playoff shutout.
The Wild gained a game back, still trailing 2-1 in the series. Game 4 is set for Thursday 9:30EST, CNBC/TSN2
The Blackhawks were in the same boat, down 2-0 and needed to gain momentum back at home. Playing at the Madhouse on Madison, with over 22,000 Blackhawk fans is the place to start.
After the suspension of Brent Seabrook, you knew this was going to be a physical hardnosed game. The Blackhawks got the only goal of the opening period, as Jonathan Toews beat Ryan Miller with a simple wrist shot that Miller let slip through his five-hole.
The goal was a shaky one, and one that seemed to not rattle Miller, but refocus the star goalie. Miller wouldn’t let up another goal, but it was not enough. Corey Crawford was excellent between the pipes, making 34 saves on the night, for his first shutout of the postseason.
Marcus Kruger added an empty-net goal to make the series 2-1 for the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks didn’t let the lead get away this time.
“In some instances [in the third], I wouldn’t say we were thinking about Game 1 and Game 2, but there’s that thought there that you’ve got to be extra careful, and we’re just throwing pucks out of our zone and making sure that we’re not turning pucks over in dangerous areas,” Toews said. “A lot of times we did have time to skate it and time to control it down in their zone. If we can do that and stay with our game a little bit more, I think we’ll be better off.”
Game 4 is set for Wednesday night, 9:30EST NBCSN/CBC
The final game out West Monday night was the first playoff game at American Airlines Center in nearly six years, and it showed.
Sold-out and loud the fans were into it all game. It paid off 19:25 into the period as Jamie Benn beat Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen for the first goal of the game.
Trying to take that momentum into the second period, it was short lived as Bryan Allen took a penalty for highsticking. Though they were outshot 30-15, the Stars were able to score again as Valeri Nichushkin beat Andersen with a wrist shot of his own.
The story of this game was Kari Lehtonen. He struggled in Anaheim, and down 2-0 in the series, came in refreshed and focused for the home game. Ryan Garbutt added the extra insurance goal in the third for the Stars, as Lehtonen made another seven saves.
Finishing the game with 37 saves and a shutout will have Lehtonen and the Stars looking to even the series.
Game 4 is Wednesday night, 8EST CNBC/TSN
The only game out West tonight is the Sharks-Kings. Los Angeles is looking to get back in the series, down 2-0 heading into tonight.
