3 big losers (and 2 surprise winners) after Wild get dominated again by Avs in Game 2

It was never going to be an easy series for the Minnesota Wild, and that was evident after the Colorado Avalanche defeated them 9-6 in Game 1 on Sunday. It was a game they would like to forget, but they had to quickly move on to try and get back into the series.

Game 2 wasn't much better for the Wild, as they lost 5-2 to the Avalanche, as they now fall to an 0-2 deficit. The Wild watched as Nathan MacKinnon, Hart Trophy favorite, have a three point performance in Game 2. Not to mention Scott Wedgewood had a rebound performance, stopping 29-of-31 shots on net. Simply put, the Wild were outplayed, and the Avalanche look like an unstoppable machine in these playoffs.

The Wild need to turn things around, and quick, if they want to win their first Stanley Cup title ever. Without further ado, let's look at the winners and losers for the Wild in Game 2.

Wild's winners and losers after dropping to 0-2 deficit to Avalanche in Game 2 defeat

Loser: Filip Gustavsson

Wild head coach John Hynes made quite a drastic decision for Game 2, deciding to bench Jesper Wallstedt in favor of Filip Gustavsson. While Wallstedt is coming off of a Game 1 performance in which he gave up eight goals on 42 shots on goal, Gustavsson hadn't played in a game since mid-April.

The risk was not worth the reward for the Wild. Gustavsson gave up goals to Martin Necas and Gabriel Landeskog on his first two shots on net faced. That's not the best start, especially after making such a decision hours before Game 2. That start may not have burned the Wild completely, but it didn't help matters.

Gustavsson allowed four goals on 22 shots faced in total on Tuesday night.

We'll see if Gustavsson gets the start in Game 3, or if they go back to Wallstedt after a couple day rest.

Winner: Kirill Kaprizov

Kirill Kaprizov signed the richest contract in NHL history this offseason. Due to this, you'd expect him to be a factor in playoff games. In Game 1, Kaprizov only notched one assist, which is pretty lackluster since the Wild scored six goals in that contest.

Kaprizov answered the bell in Game 2. Shortly after Necas put the Avalanche up 1-0 in the first period, Kaprizov had a breakaway attempt, where he fired a shot past Wedgewood's glove-side to tie the game up six seconds later.

This is what Wild fans want to see from Kaprizov, and that's putting shots on goal and keeping the team in the game. While it didn't result in a win, having Kaprizov score a goal is promising.

Losers: Wild penalty kill

The Wild penalty kill was a major area of weakness during their first-round series against the Dallas Stars. The last thing they needed to do was give the Avalanche, of all teams, a one skater advantage. The Wild did just that, five times in Game 2.

In the first period, Yakov Trenin was called for high sticking on Nicolas Roy, and the Avalanche made him pay 15 seconds later, with Landeskog scoring a goal. Then, in the third period, Vladimir Tarasenko was assessed a high sticking penalty on Nazem Kadri. On that power play, MacKinnon scored his fourth goal of the playoffs to put the Avalanche up 4-1.

Simply put, the Wild have to play much safer. It's been shown in these playoffs that if a Wild player heads to the penalty box, the opposing team can make them pay with goals.

Winner: Marcus Johansson

Even though the Wild trailed 4-1, Marcus Johansson gave them some hope late in the third period. Over a minute after MacKinnon's power play goal, Johansson stood in front of the net with Danila Yurov feeding him a pass from behind the net. That allowed Johansson to bury the pass past Wedgewood to cut their deficit to 4-2.

This was Johansson's third goal of the playoffs. While the Wild couldn't catch up after the score, it showed that the team wasn't quitting despite a three-goal deficit.

Loser: John Hynes

Hynes took a huge gamble before Game 2, deciding that instead of giving Wallstedt a chance to work his way back from a rough Game 1, he would go with Gustavsson. While yes, the Wild have one of the top goaltending duos in the game, it was a risk to go with the veteran, given the fact that he was sitting on the bench for a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Wedgewood, who had a rough Game 1 for the Avalanche, rebounded with a 29 save performance in Game 2. Who knows, maybe Wallstedt would put up a better showing than Gustavsson. It certainly couldn't be worse than giving up two goals on the first two shots on net like Gustavsson had on Tuesday night.

It's up to Hynes to once again make a goaltending decision for Game 3. Will he go back to Wallstedt? Or will he give Gustavsson another shot, this time on home ice? Either way, his Game 2 decision backfired.

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