Bring on the Blackhawks.
Nino Niederreiter scored his second goal of the game 5:02 into overtime and Ilya Bryzgalov made a big save filling in for an injured Darcy Kuemper, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 5-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 on Wednesday night.
It’s the first playoff series win for the Wild since 2003.
Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley and Jared Spurgeon also scored for the Wild, who will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper left Game 7 of the Wild’s playoff series against Colorado with an apparent injury.
Kuemper was replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov in the third period Wednesday night. The nature of the injury wasn’t clear and there was no immediate announcement by the Wild.
Nick Holden, Jamie McGinn, Paul Stastny and Erik Johnson scored for the Avalanche.
