The Minnesota Wild try to avoid elimination once again as they take on the Vancouver Canucks at home tonight at 9:00 on ESPN. To sore to write a full description of the game, so I'll steal one from Yahoo!.
Momentum and home-ice advantage have yet to be factors in the West semifinal series between the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild. Minnesota will try to put both elements to use for the first time as it again tries to avoid elimination.
The Wild look to force Game 7 when the teams meet at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild have played their best in this postseason when facing elimination, and did it again Monday in Game 5, setting a single-game club record for goals in a 7-2 rout of the Canucks.
Cliff Ronning scored his first two goals of the playoffs and Wes Walz added a goal and two assists for Minnesota, which had the best offensive output in the franchise's three-year history.
"We were looking for breaks in this series and I think we got all of them today,'' Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "The puck was rolling for us and we were able to make plays and the puck was going.''
For Minnesota to force Game 7 on Thursday in Vancouver, it will have to win at the Xcel Energy Center, where it is 1-4 in the playoffs. The Wild have won five of seven on the road in the postseason.
"We haven't been very successful at home, we're going to try to break that,'' Minnesota's Marian Gaborik said. "We're going to go back and play the same way we did here.''
Minnesota, 4-0 when facing elimination, is looking to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit twice in the same postseason. The Wild won three straight against Colorado after falling behind 3-1.
"Tonight is a big win for us, but we've got a long road to go,'' defenseman Willie Mitchell said. "We played pretty well against Colorado with our backs against the wall, and they were in a similar situation too, and they know anything can happen.''
Lemaire switched back to goalie Dwayne Roloson for Game 5 after Manny Fernandez dropped to 0-2 in this series with a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4. Roloson, who made 25 saves Monday, has won two of three in this series after dropping three straight to Colorado.
Brendan Morrison and Daniel Sedin scored Monday for Vancouver, which has led for only 38 minutes, 23 seconds -- all in a Game 3 win -- of the entire series. Two of the Canucks' three victories have come in overtime.
"Our composure wasn't good, our patience wasn't good and our battle level wasn't good,'' Canucks coach Marc Crawford said. "If there's one consolation, it's that this was a group loss tonight.''
Vancouver's Dan Cloutier had by far his worst game of this postseason, yielding six goals on 21 shots. He was pulled after two periods and replaced by rookie Alex Auld.
"It's over with,'' Cloutier said. "We can throw this one away and go from there. There's no point on dwelling on it, it's over. We went through this before and we always bounce back from these things.''
Gaborik, Minnesota's best player, scored just four goals in his final 32 regular-season games. That slump, however, has not carried over to the playoffs.
Gaborik scored his league-leading ninth goal of the postseason Monday and added an assist to extend his point streak to seven games. He is tied with Dallas' Mike Modano for the NHL lead with 15 points.
"Obviously, it was very frustrating,'' Gaborik said of his season-ending slump. "Here, I've been getting chances. I feel pretty comfortable. I've just tried to play my game and go out there and play as hard as I can, be positive and stay fresh on the ice.''
Including the regular season, Gaborik has 10 goals and 18 points in 10 games against Vancouver.
While Minnesota's best players are producing, Vancouver's stars are struggling.
Canucks captain Markus Naslund has just one goal in the series, while linemate Todd Bertuzzi has gone seven games without a goal. Naslund and Bertuzzi combined for 94 goals during the regular season.
Minnesota hopes to have defenseman Brad Bombardir and left wing Pascal Dupuis in the lineup for Game 6.
Bombardir didn't play Monday after returning in Game 4 from a 30-game absence because of a back injury. Dupuis left Game 5 in the third period with an undisclosed lower body injury.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Wild - 6th seed; beat Colorado Avalanche 4-3, quarterfinals. Canucks - 4th seed; beat St. Louis Blues 4-3, quarterfinals.
PLAYOFF TEAM LEADERS: Canucks - Ed Jovanovski, 6 goals; Naslund, 8 assists and 13 points; Bertuzzi, 56 PIM. Wild - Gaborik, 9 goals and 15 points; Sergei Zholtok, 8 assists, Matt Johnson, 21 PIM.
PLAYOFF SPECIAL TEAMS: Canucks - Power play: 17.4 percent (12 for 69). Penalty killing: 79.7 percent (55 for 69). Wild - Power play: 22.0 percent (11 for 50). Penalty killing: 81.3 percent (39 for 48).
GOALTENDERS: Canucks - Cloutier (7-5, 3.02 GAA); Auld (0-0, 3.16). Wild - Roloson (3-4, 2.78); Fernandez (3-2, 2.23).
REGULAR SEASON SERIES: 2-2-1. Vancouver won the first two meetings, and Minnesota rebounded to win the next two before the teams skated to a 2-2 tie in the last matchup Jan. 28. Gaborik had five goals and four assists for the Wild, while Naslund and Bertuzzi each had five points to lead the Canucks.
Go Wild! Down with Canada!
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