The Minnesota Wild may still be reeling from their Game 5 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Semifinals. But as the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue, it may sting even more due to Cale Makar’s latest injury..
Makar did not play in the Avalanche’s 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night due to an upper body injury. While the star defenseman did take part in an optional skate and Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said Makar was feeling “pretty good” before the game via NHL.com’s Shawn P. Roarke, he is still listed as day-to-day.
This may not matter to Wild fans who already have their eyes set on a big offseason. But it also should be another gut punch as it squandered an opportunity to get back into the series and possibly advance to their first Western Conference Finals since 2003.
Wild’s series vs. Avs could have changed drastically with Cale Makar’s injury
The Wild faced a tall task after falling to the Avalanche 3-1 in the best-of-seven series but things looked good when they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period in Game 5. While the Wild were aggressive early, they managed just seven more shots over the final two periods and overtime as Colorado came back to end their season in a 4-3 loss.
Lost in that madness was Makar’s injury. After leaving Game 1 of the series due to an undisclosed injury and returning to score a pair of goals and an assist, Makar left a significant portion of Game 5, but was able to return late in the game and aid the comeback. Had the Wild held on, they would have forced a Game 6 and things may have been different if Makar wasn’t able to play.
The evidence was in front of everyone on Wednesday night. The Avalanche offense that relentlessly filled the net against the Wild was non-existent for roughly 55 minutes without Makar on the ice. After falling into another 3-0 hole, Colorado got goals from Valeri Nichuskin and Gabriel Landeskog to cut the lead down to 3-2, but they just didn’t look right according to Sean Keeler of The Denver Post.
“With no Cale, the Avs paled,” Keeler wrote. “They passed too much. They got passive The shooting was lousy. The puck management was spotty, the back checks were inconsistent. The top two lines vanished, forcing coach Jared Bednar to mix and match on the fly.
“...Without Cale, it was hard not to miss a presence that’s usually everywhere on the ice – defense, power play, penalty kill, the works. But it was felt the most on Wednesday at the blue line in the offensive zone. When Vegas didn’t have a generational sniper to worry about, they could pack the slot and the crease the way NBA defenses could collapse on Nikola Jokic in the paint.”
It’s also important to note that Makar missed Wednesday’s game after having a full week off to recover. While he may have put forth a superhuman effort to play in Game 6 or Game 7, the fact he didn’t take a single hit for a week and still wasn’t able to play make that unlikely – or at the very least, leave him at less than 100 percent for the final two games of the series.
The Wild’s Game 5 loss to the Avalanche hurts. But it stings even more knowing they had a golden opportunity to tie or even win the series if they had held onto a three-goal lead. Instead, the Wild are left trying how to figure out how to get past Colorado when they could have still been playing on Wednesday night.
Add us as a preferred source on Google