Colorado lives up to its role as favorite. © APA / DAVID BERDING

Colorado strikes back – Wildlife on the brink of extinction

After their first defeat in the NHL playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche found a strong response on Monday evening (local time).

12 May 2026

From: sn

In Game 4 of their second-round Western Conference series, Nathan MacKinnon and his teammates defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on the road. The visitors dominated much of the game, displaying significantly more physicality and depth compared to their 1-5 loss in Game 3. However, the game was much closer than the score suggests. The score was tied 2-2 in the 51st minute, and two of the Avalanche's five goals were empty-net goals in the final minute. Colorado now leads the series 3-1 and is just one win away from the Western Conference Finals.

"If you look at how we played in the last game, the first half today wasn't even close to the same level," admitted Minnesota forward Nico Sturm. "In the game before that, we had so much time on offense because we got the puck behind their defense. Today, it would have taken us half the game to do that."

A German meets

On Monday, the Avalanche outperformed their opponents in checks, leading 32-29. This slowed down their offense, gave their own players more time to make the right decisions, and facilitated their offensive setup. The result was significantly improved five-on-five performance. "You have to give them credit, they frustrated us today," admitted Minnesota center Michael McCarron. "We tried to execute our plays and were too playful. That's what fed their offense. We should have learned that from Game 1."

Jesper Wallstedt couldn't prevent the defeat. © APA / DAVID BERDING

It wasn't the big names that led the Avalanche to their latest victory. Initially, the two teams traded power-play goals. Danila Yurov put the Wild ahead on the power play (10th minute), and Nazem Kadri responded in the second period, also with a man advantage (27th minute). In the third period, Ross Colton turned the game around (47th minute), but Sturm quickly tied it up again (50th minute). It was the German's first goal of this year's playoffs. However, just a few minutes later, Parker Kelly made it 3-2 for Colorado. MacKinnon and Brock Nelson added two empty-net goals in the final minute of the game.