Carson McMillan’s goal in the final period gives Minnesota Wild win over Colorado Avalanche, 3-2
Carson McMillan scored his first goal (which also became the game decider) of the National Hockey League (NHL) 2011-2012 season, as Minnesota Wild got its second straight victory, edging past Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at the
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado.
At the time, when Minnesota have not been getting winning runs lately, two straight victories and a relatively well standing in the NHL Western Conference, will certainly lift them up.
After playing 49 games, Wild are ranked at eighth spot in the conference, with 55 points.
Their recent success would not have been possible had McMillan not scored in the final period, before which the teams were tied at 2-2.
The scoring move came at 7:44, thanks to a blunder by Colorado’s defenseman, Shane O'Brien, who lost the puck in the neutral zone.
McMillan, who had forced the giveaway, collected the puck and skated towards Colorado’s goalie, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who did not have services of his defenders.
McMillan reached near the net and dodged left before flicking the puck through the goalie’s legs.
He commented about the goal:
"I was trying to get off and I couldn't, so I just tried to have a good stick and I got a breakaway. I was shocked. I didn't know what I was doing. I just tried to open his legs up and sneak it through. He's a great goalie and he's big and he covers a lot
of the net. The puck found a hole."
Minnesota had a lead at the end of the first period, which was levelled by Avalanche in the second.
T.J. Galiardi was the first one to score.
At 4:37, after gaining possession, he skated forward and fired a shot from inside the right circle to put Avalanche in lead.
Wild responded sharply after falling behind. They scored two goals in the same period to enter the next with a one-goal lead.
At 10:40, Justin Falk scored a power-play goal to equalise the score and later at 16:15, Dany Heatley sent the puck into the end after receiving an assist from Kyle Brodziak.
Chuck Kobasew provided Avalanche some breathing space by scoring the only goal of the second period.
McMillan, however, starred for Minnesota in the final to give his team the victory.
While regretting over the loss, Avalanche’s captain, Milan Hejduk, said that his team gave away too many possessions, which eventually cost them the game.
The captain said:
"It was a huge game. We're battling with them for a playoff spot and we had home-ice advantage and we didn't come up with any points. It was not really our best effort. It felt like we were almost squeezing our sticks too tight or something.”
Colorado has 54 points in 51 games and is ranked at ninth spot in the NHL Western Conference.
Avalanche are going to play their next game against Edmonton Oilers on January 31, while Wild are going to face Nashville Predators on the same day.
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