#4...Colorado 5, Minnesota 1 (no OT)...Not Enough Schnapps For This One

Ya, well the score says it all; it isn't one of those scores that can give a misrepresentation of the actual play. Colorado flat out came to play tonight, and I think the presumably tired Wild squad just didn't- The Avs skated around us all night, which inevitably led to frustration, which then lead to penalties, and in the end we can all revel in the immense amount of penalty minutes accrued by our favorite team (NHL.com says 25 penalties for 91 minutes, but I think its like 111 or so. Impressive nonetheless.)
It wasn't a pretty game to watch from a Minnesota standpoint penalties non withstanding; defensive zone turnovers (which led to a couple goals), heavy legs, very little chemistry and flow, and just an overall lack of crispness. When you come out as poorly as we did tonight, its easy for a team like Colorado (or any team really) to jump up to an early lead and continue to extend it. I do want to give Colorado credit, because they capitalized on an out of sync and frustrated team.
I was disappointed with the officiating; not so much in the "I'm a homer and everything should go Minnesota's way", but in the sense that I think the game was poorly handled as the game went on. There were some incredibly dicey calls, some you could consider complete reaches. I can understand the need and want to keep the game from spiraling out of control; obviously the league doesn't want some sort of incident to happen (not specifically talking about Chris Simon here, but a bad hit, intent to injure, etc.) but on the same hand, let the guys play. This is the playoffs. There is a fine line between guiding the game and controlling it, and to me I thought that the refs began to control it. (before I get jumped on about this, I want to explain that alot of the stuff I am talking about happened after the score was out of hand. Is there really a need for a gray-area, ticky-tacky hooking call when the score is 5-1?)
Just watching Jacques Lemaire's presser, he was correct in his assessment that while some guys just weren't ready to play (not an excuse), that the bench were taken off whatever game they had by focusing in on what wasn't getting called, or that some of the Avs were diving (Insert Peter Forsberg's name here.) In the grand scheme of things, that sort of thing is best left for the fans; we are the ones that should complain about that sort of thing while the players play.
This series would be over by now if we didn't have Mikko Koivu, who seems like he is bound and determined to carry this team. He scored his 4th goal of the series, a shorthanded goal, early in the third period. He tied a team record by scoring in his fourth consecutive game. And on the flipside, Marian Gaborik was shut down again. Its easy to digest a scoreless effort when there are 9 shots attached to it, but he just wasn't anywhere on the map tonight, which is now a very disturbing trend. A lot of folks are under the assumption that he will break out and score, but time is starting to run out, and the stakes are getting higher.
So it is what it is- a chance to go home with a 3-1 series lead is met with a resounding ass-whipping. Now the series is tied at 2, and all is left is essentially a three game series.