The puck just finds Joe Sakic in overtime.

Capt. Sakic scored his eighth career OT playoff winner tonight, the most all-time. Put that in perspective, the entire Wild roster has two — Pavol Demitra and Eric Belanger.

Sakic has 83 playoff goals, seventh all-time to move past Mike Bossy. He has 180 playoff points, tying Ray Bourque for 10th all-time. He’s got 19 game-winning goals, moving ahead of Maurice “Rocket” Richard for fourth all-time.

Fyi, I think we’re very close to an official ownership change, but onto the game and specifically the winner, Jacques blamed rookie James Sheppard for leaving the front of the net when the defenseman, Petteri Nummelin, moved up, but after watching the replay, it looked like a lot of guys were all over the place.

And, the reality is, the puck hit a skate, and deflected right to one of the most clutch playoff performers ever.

The played a strong game, outshooting the Avs 11-2 in the first and 20-7 through two. But it found itself trailing 2-zip after two.

The Wild rallied on goals by Mikko Koivu and Todd Fedoruk, but then the Avs pressured and pressured and pressured the rest of the third period. The only thing that got this game to overtime was good luck, and Niklas Backstrom’s save on a penalty shot on Ryan Smyth.

In overtime, Jose Theodore also saved the game with a tremendous save on a Brent Burns shot. It was a 2-on-2 with Stephane Veilleux that Burns basically turned into a last-second breakaway. 

– Fedoruk notched his first career playoff point in 20 contests with his goal.

– Wild is 2-4 in playoff overtimes, 1-3 at home. They’re 3-8 at home all-time.

– The Smyth penalty shot was the first ever against the Wild in postseason play. he was 3 for 4 in shootouts this year. As I think you know, Nik Backstrom wasn’t good in shootouts, but he stoned him to help the game get to OT.

As for a Mark Parrish update, he sustained a head injury in the second period when he was checked into the Wild bench by Ruslan Salei, the same Salei that once plastered Mike Modano’s mug into the boards in Dallas. He got 10 games for this. He won’t get anything for this. He checked Parrish, and he flew awkwardly head first into the bench.

He was taken to a local hospital, passed tests, went home and will be re-evaluated Thursday.

Can’t give you a ton of color from inside the room. Most players scampered to the back of the joint, and because of how late the game went, I was only in there for a few minutes.

And Jacques’ press conference lasted only a few minutes because of again, tight deadlines and the fact only two people ever ask questions. 

Here’s some quotes from inside Colorado’s room courtesy of Judd Zulgad:

RYAN SMYTH

(Get a win?) “Obviously our goal is to come in here and try to get a split or both but we got the one so far and we’ll just go from there.”

(Jose’s play?) “He’s clutch down the stretch and he’s playing unreal right now for us. goaltending is huge in the playoffs. He stepped up, it’s great to see and we want to rally around him for sure. The way we rallied tonight as far as scoring that overtime winner helps him and boosts everybody’s confidence. But we’re in for a challenge.”

JOSE THEODORE

(Your play early) “We knew that they were going to come out really hard. I thought in the first they showed us how good of a team they are. We were able to get away with a [0-0] tie. After that I thought we started to pick it up and score some huge goals in the second. Then they came back. They have a lot of character, you’ve got to be aware of that. We didn’t panic, which is good, and Joe came with a huge play.”

(Burns save?) “Obviously in overtime every save is big. He came in tight and I was able to kind of read the play a little bit. I was able to keep my focus and just be able to stop it.”

(You were in it?) “It felt good. As a goalie you’re aware, especially on the road, like I say, the first period the home team comes out flying and that’s what they did tonight. As a goalie you want to make those big saves to show your teammates that you’re going to be ready to help them out.”

(Key was the first period for you?) “I think it’s always fun to be able to go in the room after the first period, being tied, especially on the road. Then after that I thought we adjusted well. We have to respect their team. I thought tonight they played a good [game] and they are really a skilled, fast team, so we’re going to have to be ready for next one.”

(Confidence you’re playing with right now?) “I’m just playing with the same confidence I’ve been playing with the last couple of months. Obviously in playoffs it’s more important but then again you don’t want to change any approach. You don’t want to change things. We’ve been having some success as a team the last.

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