Captain Koivu puts Wild back in the win column

October 21, 10:55 PMMinnesota Wild ExaminerCharlie Beattie

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Mikko Koivu (in front) celebrates his game-tying goal (AP Photo)

If there were any doubters as to whether or not Mikko Koivu should be the permanent captain of the Minnesota Wild, he erased them with a stellar performance in leading the Wild to a 3-2 shootout victory over the first-place Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

Koivu assisted on Minnesota’s first goal, scored their second and provided the only goal in the shootout as the Wild won just their second game of the year.

The Wild looked nothing like the team that had just come off an 0-5 road trip as they dominated the first period, drawing several penalties against a scrambling Avalanche team that looked a step slow. Brent Burns fired home a rebound of a Koivu shot at the 3:44 mark on the Wild’s first power play, giving Minnesota just their third lead of the season. However, they were unable to build on that advantage despite out-shooting the Avs 13-6 in the opening frame.

The Avalanche, who came into the game with 13 points, making them the surprising early leader in the Western Conference, came out with much more energy in the middle period. Colorado outshot Minnesota 18-4, and Darcy Tucker tied the game with a shot that crawled up the arm of Niklas Backstrom and trickled slowly into the net at the 4:25 mark. Kyle Quincey gave Colorado the lead 14 minutes later as Colorado hemmed Minnesota in their own zone. Burns turned the puck over trying to flip it out of the zone, and Quincey tucked in Cody McLeod’s rebound to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

The Wild finally capitalized again on their seventh power play chance of the night with 4:51 of the third period, as Koivu, who was named captain on Monday, deflected home an Antti Miettinen pass from the high slot to tie the game at two. It was Koivu’s third goal of the season. 10 of 17 goals this season for the Wild have come on the power play.

Chuck Kobasew, playing his first game for the Wild, nearly broke the tie with just over a minute left, tipping a Kim Johnsson long-range shot just wide. The winger, who was acquired from Boston on Monday, played 14 minutes of ice time and finished the night -2.

The game was delayed for several minutes with 4.9 seconds to go as Colorado’s David Jones checked Nick Schultz into the glass panel just in front of the timekeeper’s bench, shattering it. Neither player was injured, but the timekeeper was treated for what appeared to be a cut on his hand.

After neither team was able to score in overtime, Koivu opened the shootout by flipping a forehand shot over Colorado goalie Craig Anderson, who was sprawling to take away the bottom of the net. It was the only tally in the shootout as Backstrom denied Marek Svatos, Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski. Martin Havlat and Marek Zidlicky both failed to score for Minnesota.

The Wild will travel to St. Louis on Friday before returning home on Saturday night to face Carolina.