The Minnesota Wild tied the Wild Avalanche NHL Playoff series 1-1 after a rousing Xcel Energy Center 3-2 overtime win. Two games, two overtimes, it was like seeing double. It was almost the same game as game one, but this time the Wild came out on top and got the lucky bounces they needed and didn’t get in game one.  I would call it "all even" with the hockey gods at this point.

The game winner came from Wild veteran Keith Carney after he fired a shot from the blue line that hit a Colorado Avalanche defenseman’s skate and ended up in the net.  Word on the street is that Carney was using Mikko Koivu’s stick , perhaps they should work out some sort of deal for future stick trade-offs! I wonder if it was the stick that Mikko used to score his goal? If so, that stick needs to be treated like gold. It was Carney’s first goal since 1999...Mikko was only 16 years old.

Everyone at the game was up in arms when Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson got called for hooking Av’s Ryan Smyth late in the third period. Now, I know the refs weren’t calling a lot of penalties in the first game or the second game really either, but I think the hooking call was a solid call. Johnsson didn’t just touch Smyth’s stick, he was under his body, too ... man, that sounds dirty. Anyway, I agree the penalty sucked, but Kim Johnsson shouldn’t have done it and I hope Jacques Lemaire lets him have it on the plane ride to Colorado.