Avs vs Wild Round 2 game 3

 4-1 Wild FINAL 

Colorado leads series 2-1 

 Minnesota didn’t just beat Colorado 5–1 — they reclaimed the rink. Kaprizov’s wrist shot at 15:11 of the first set the tone, Hughes’ power‑play strike ninety‑three seconds later hardened it into intent, and Hartman’s early second‑period goal made it clear the Wild weren’t interested in trading chances so much as dictating terms.

 Even when MacKinnon finally broke through on the power play at 13:11 of the second, the response was immediate and merciless — Faber’s deflection twenty seconds later, a door slammed shut before Colorado could even inhale. The hits told the same story: Minnesota 34, Colorado 20, a physical insistence that never let the Avalanche’s skill breathe.

But the spine of the night — the part that made the whole thing feel inevitable — was Jesper Wallstedt. Colorado threw 30 shots at him, including long stretches of sustained pressure, and he stood up to all but one with a calm that felt older than his birth certificate/ The Avalanche dominated the dots at 65.1% and still couldn’t tilt the ice because Wallstedt refused to give them the emotional oxygen they needed to turn momentum into danger. 

He didn’t just backstop a win; he authored its temperature. A young goaltender absorbing a heavyweight’s best punches and sending his team back up the ice with the quiet assurance that nothing behind them was going to break. Minnesota played heavy, honest hockey for sixty minutes because their goaltender played like he’d been waiting his whole life for a night exactly like this..

Highlights and replays Colorado Avalanche - Minnesota Wild - May 9, 2026 | NHL.com