April 18th

WILD GAME NOTES (4/17, 3-2 loss to Avalanche)

G Niklas Backstrom made 14 saves for Minnesota in suffering his third loss of the postseason.

RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard's first period power-play goal marked the Wild's first goal in the opening 40 minutes of any game in this series. The Wild has been outscored 10-0 in the first two periods, including LW Andrew Brunette's goal at 12:24 of the first, and hadn't scored a goal on it's first 50 first period shots of the series. Bouchard netted his second goal of the series and third of his post-season career. He scored the game-winner in overtime in Game 3.

LW Brian Rolston's goal at 19:57 of the final stanza marked the fifth consecutive playoff game that the Wild has scored in the third period. It marked Rolston's second goal of the postseason and, combined with his assist on Bouchard's second period goal, gives him a team-leading six points i the postseason (2-4=6)

C James Sheppard earned the first point in his playoff career with an assist on Rolston's goal.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, when a best-of-seven NHL post-season series is tied 2-2, the Game 5 victor has gone on to win the seres 158 of 196 times (80.6 percent). Minnesota is a combined 6-2 in games five, six and seven.

The Wild has twice won a series when trailing 3-2. The Wild is the lone team in NHL history to come back from a 3-1 deficit in back-to-back playoff series - against Colorado and Vancouver in 2003. Minnesota is 7-2 all-time in elimination games.

Colorado has won games 4 and 5 by a combined 8-3 margin.

Before the Avs tallied a pair of third period goals tonight, the Wild had a 7-2 third-period advantage in the series, and a 9-3 bulge counting overtime. The Wild has led for 4:31 of the 324:23 played in the series - 1.4 percent of the time played.

The Wild fell to 4-9 all-time in home playoff games. A victory tonight would have marked Minnesota's first set of back-to-back victories at home in franchise history.

Minnesota has allowed the game's first goal in nine straight playoff games, dating back to Game 1 of the 2007 Western Conference Quarterfinals versus Anaheim - the last time the Wild scored first.

Wild D Erik Reitz made his NHL playoff debut.

Minnesota's 40 shots toed a team record for a playoff game last accomplished on April 17, 2007, in a 4-1 win over Anaheim in Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals. The Wild's 17 first-period shots were a team playoff record. The old mark of 16 was set May 14, 2003, inthe first period of a 4-0 loss at Anaheim in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.


OSSY TO START GAME 5 FOR WINGS

Mike Babcock's plan to abandon his goalie rotation in the Stanley Cup playoffs was short-lived.

Dominik Hasek, who started Detroit's first four games of a Western Conference quarter-final against Nashville, was told by the Red Wings coach on Thursday he would be sitting for Game 5.

Instead, Chris Osgood will get the call at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit after stopping all 13 shots he faced in relief of Hasek in a 3-2 loss Wednesday in Nashville.

The Predators beat Hasek three times on 14 shots in Game 4 to even the first-round series at two games apiece.

Osgood appeared in 43 regular-season games and Hasek in 41, but Babcock had planned only to play the six-time Vezina Trophy winner in the post-season.

Both goaltenders have plenty of playoff experience. Osgood was in net when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1998, with Hasek a starter for Detroit's championship team four years later.


Todays NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Schedule

-(8) Nashville @ (1) Detroit--Game 5--630pm--Versus (series tied 2-2)

-(5) NY Rangers @ (4) New Jersey--Game 5--630pm (Rangers lead series 3-1)

-(5) Dallas @ (4) Anaheim--Game 5--930pm--Versus (Stars lead series 3-1)