Game one in the books and an unlikely two points in the standings for the Wild. Led from start to finish by Zach Parise with the hat trick, six shots on goal and a breakaway where he hit the post. This one was electric from the start. The game, as expected, started at a feverish pace with both teams having good scoring opportunities early. The Avalanche grabbed the momentum midway through the first striking seven seconds into their first power play, as Jarome Iginla snapped a one timer past Dubnyk, converting a perfect cross ice pass from Nathan MacKinnon. After a delay of game call on Mikko Koivu, the Avalanche capitalized again on the power play. This time it was Erik Johnson blasting a slap shot through the screen of Matt Duchene past Dubnyk and the Wild were down two. The Wild clearly were on their heels and the Avalanche were looking for the kill. Gabriel Landeskog was left all alone at the side of the Wild net taking an indirect pass off the boards and redirecting it in behind Dubnyk sending the Wild to the locker room down by three.
The Wild started to turn things around in period two as they came out firing from the drop of the puck. They were rewarded when Zach Parise snapped a wrister past Varlamov off a nifty drop pass from Mikael Granlund just under seven minutes into the second period. John Mitchell got the Avs three goal lead back a minute and twelve seconds later and that is where the game stood after twork periods.
The third period was Zach Parise time. This was an epic performance, one that does not happen often, but when it does it really is remarkable to witness. With just over five minutes gone in period three, Parise circled out of the right wing corner and sent a pass out to Matt Dumba at the right point. As he let the pass go, Parise was rocked by a crushing check, landed by Gabriel Landeskog, knocking him to the ice. Parise immediately bounced back up on his skates and headed for the front of the net. Matt Dumba walked the blue line toward the middle of the ice and unleashed a slap shot toward the Avalanche net. Dumba's shot got knocked down before it reached the net, caroming to Granlund in the slot. Granlund slid the puck over to Parise who was alone at the right side of the Avalanche net. Parise wasted no time lifting the puck off Varlamov and into the net cutting the lead to four to two. The tide had officially turned as, ironically Landeskog actually left the game for a short time as he was a bit shaken after his hit on Parise. A little controversy over a missed icing non-call led to the Wild closing the gap to one. Nino Niederreiter converted a broken play generated from Jason Zucker's pass, into his first of the season ma king the score four to three. The Avalanche were clearly rattled, the Wild were applying all the pressure. Thomas Vanek then took a perfect pass from Mikael Granlund, settled it and ripped a perfectly placed wrist shot catching the inside of the right post and into the net knotting the game at four. Landeskog returned just in time to play another key role in the Wild comeback. Landeskog took an interference penalty on Jason Pominville just inside the blue line at 9:37 of the third. Zach Parise made sure the comeback was complete as he netted his third goal of the night with Landeskog looking on helplessly from the penalty box.
The Wild gained two very valuable points, and set a tone that this team is not going to quit no matter what the situation or the score. The lessons learned over the past three seasons were evident in this win. By no means did they play their best game, but they found the will to compete and rode the extraordinary effort and leadership of Zach Parise on this night.
The win was not without setback, as Nino Niederreiter fell awkwardly into the side boards late in period three, hitting his head on the boards. He was forced to leave the game and did not return.
Next up St. Louis at the Xcel on Saturday.