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Wild, Avs continue deadlocked series with Game 5 in St. Paul

Thu 17th, April 2008

(Sports Network) - With their series tied at two games apiece, Minnesota and the Colorado Avalanche will head north as the Wild host Game 5 of this best- of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild and Avs met in Denver for Game 4 on Tuesday and Colorado breezed to an easy 5-1 victory at the Pepsi Center.

Prior to Tuesday's blowout win every game in this series and the previous five playoff meetings in a row between these clubs had been decided by a 3-2 overtime result. Minnesota won Games 6 and 7 of a Western quarterfinal in 2003 and the Wild have taken two of three OT games by that score in this set.

Colorado notched the OT triumph in Game 1 at Minnesota, but the Wild then recorded two straight to take a lead in this series. However, the Avs broke the pattern in Game 4 and tied the series in the process.

Tyler Arnason posted a goal and an assist to lift Colorado to the lopsided victory on Tuesday.

Ruslan Salei had a goal and an assist, while Jordan Leopold collected two assists for the Avalanche. Jose Theodore stopped 24-of-25 shots to earn the victory.

Mikko Koivu scored the lone goal for the Wild. Niklas Backstrom allowed five goals on 29 shots before he was replaced by Josh Harding at the start of the third period. Harding made seven saves the rest of the way, but Backstrom will be back between the pipes this evening.

The Wild are still waiting for star right winger Marian Gaborik to break out of his playoff scoring slump. Gaborik, who led Minnesota in goals (42) and points (83) this year, has 15 shots on goal in the series, but has yet to record a single point.

On the injury front, Wild defenseman Nick Schultz has been skating with the team after undergoing an appendectomy early last week. Schultz, one of Minnesota's top defensive defenseman, is still not able to partake in physical drills and is not yet ready to make a full return although he is hopeful to make it back before the end of this series.

Despite the gap in the conference seeding between the Wild and Avs, Colorado actually finished just three points behind Minnesota for second place in the always competitive Northwest Division.

Overall, the Wild went 5-2-1 versus the Avalanche during the 2007-08 regular season.

This is the second-ever playoff series between these clubs. Minnesota won the only other postseason meeting, shocking the Avs in the opening round of the 2003 postseason.

The Wild are in the playoffs for the third straight year and they are also in as a division champion for the first-time ever. Colorado is back after a one- year absence last season that ended a string of 11 straight postseason appearances.

Minnesota had an excellent 25-11-5 record at home this season, while the Avs struggled to a 17-19-5 mark as the visitors.

This series will shift back to Denver for Game 6, which is scheduled for Saturday at the Pepsi Center.

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