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Carney's goal evens series for Wild

Apr 12, 2008 - 5:55 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild wasted little time rebounding from a late third-period lapse.

Defenseman Keith Carney scored 74 seconds into overtime as the Wild evened their Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Colorado Avalanche at one game apiece with a 3-2 victory in Game Two on Friday.

Pavol Demitra and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild, who improved to 3-4 all-time in playoff overtime games. Minnesota lost, 3-2, in overtime in Game One.

"It feels good," Carney said. "I would say it was a must-win for us, obviously. It feels good to get the win, and hopefully now, we can keep this momentum going."

"If we'd have lost, we know we have to win there," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "You've got to go with that attitude, the feeling that you can beat them there in their own rink. We're in better shape right now."

Niklas Backstrom turned aside 24 shots for the Wild, while Jose Theodore made 28 saves for the Avalanche.

Peter Forsberg had a goal and an assist and Milan Hejduk scored late in the third period to force overtime for Colorado, which hosts Game Three on Monday.

"It's going to be great to get home and play in front of our fans," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "But it's the same dimensions and they're really not going to care about being on the road."

"We thought every game was going to be close," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "You can't get much closer than the first two. They certainly got a big break at the end. It was an exciting finish again."

After Hejduk netted a power-play goal in the final minute of the third to force the extra session, Carney took advantage of a favorable bounce early in overtime to give Minnesota the much-needed win.

"We had a great goal to tie and get it into overtime, and unfortunately, it didn't last very long," Sakic said. "This is what we expected in this series. It's going to be tight."

As the puck caromed to him off the left wing boards, Carney one-timed a blast from the faceoff circle that hit the skate of Avalanche defenseman Ruslan Salei in front and entered the net for his third career postseason goal.

"The puck is going over to the half wall and I just tried to get it to the net," Carney said. "We talked about that after Game One, just getting more pucks and more bodies to their net and creating some more chances that way. We were fortunate it worked out in that situation."

"It was an unfortunate bounce against us," Quenneville said. "Those things happen. There was a lot of traffic, a lot of bodies."

Carney's goal erased the importance of Hejduk's 31st in postseason play.

"A pretty unlucky bounce, but I guess it happens," Hejduk said. "I think the shot went wide and it kind of hit the skate and went in. ... In OTs, that is the way it goes sometimes. Unfortunately, it went against us today."

Forsberg opened the scoring with 2:54 remaining in the first period. Carrying the puck down the right wing, the Swede cut to the slot and beat Backstrom high to the glove side with a wrist shot for his 64th career playoff tally.

The goal held up until early in the third, when Demitra cashed in during a power play to even the contest. From the left point, the Slovakian unleashed a slap shot that found its way through a screen and inside the right goalpost just 97 seconds into the period.

"We've got every single guy on this team working hard, and it doesn't matter in the playoffs who scores the goals," said Demitra, who is one of Minnesota's more-seasoned veterans. "But obviously, it's up to the older guys and guys with experience to put the puck in the net."

With 1:49 to go in the third, Koivu grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone, carried it across the blue line and fired it past Theodore from above the slot for his second goal of the series and a 2-1 edge.

But with Minnesota defenseman Kim Johnsson in the penalty box for hooking and Theodore pulled for an extra attacker, Hejduk redirected blue-liner John-Michael Liles' slapper between the pads of Backstrom with 44 seconds remaining, knotting the contest and forcing overtime.

The Wild did not allow the late goal to deflate them, instead regrouping during intermission.

"We thought we had the game won right there in the third," Carney said. "Questionable call on the penalty, but we talked about just refocusing and not letting that beat us, just continuing to play our game and do the right things on the ice. We felt if we did that, we would get the right result. Sure enough, we did."

"When they got that goal at the end, it was not too fun to be sitting on the bench and see that," Minnesota's Pierre-Marc Bouchard added. "But we bounce back and get a win, and now it's 1-1 and we're back in the series."