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Minnesota 3, Colorado 3

Posted: Monday October 28, 2002 02:16 AM

Minnesota Wild Related Info: Team Page City Page: • Minneapolis-Saint Paul

Colorado Avalanche Related Info: Team Page City Page: • Denver

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild remained winless in Colorado, but the efforts of Dwayne Roloson and Antti Laaksonen prevented them from increasing their loss total.

Roloson made a season-high 42 saves and Laaksonen scored the tying goal with 5:10 remaining in the third period as the Wild rallied for a 3-3 tie with the Colorado Avalanche.

Minnesota had lost each of its first five trips to Colorado and appeared headed in the same direction in this one. But Laaksonen tied the game, putting a rebound past goaltender Patrick Roy.

After Willie Mitchell's slap shot hit the left goalpost, Laaksonen breezed past several defenders and caught Roy out of position.

Laaksonen's tally came just over three minutes after Pascal Dupuis converted a breakaway, cutting Colorado's lead to 3-2.

Roloson faced intense pressure in overtime, stopping five shots. Just over a minute in, he turned aside Adam Foote's one-timer, and nearly two minutes later, he robbed Alex Tanguay from inside the right face-off circle.

"We believe in ourselves that we can do it, and that's how we've been playing all year," Roloson said. "That's the reason I think we're having success. We have to keep believing that if we're down a couple of goals, it doesn't matter."

"I think we have a little more offense, a little more speed than we had last year and the previous year," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "The guys are playing with confidence right now. They always feel they have a chance to come back and win a game."

Dupuis' third goal in as many games came shortly after the Avalanche failed to convert their eighth power-play opportunity. He took a pass from Filip Kuba and headed alone through the slot. After fanning on his initial shot, he got Roy out of position and beat the all-time wins leader to the stick side.

"We go out there and sit back and Patty (Roy) stands on his head for every single game this year," Colorado defenseman Derek Morris said. "Tonight we just let him down. We slacked off when we shouldn't have. We just have to keep going at them and it's not even a contest. We ended up sitting back and it cost us the game."

After getting 15 shots in the first period, the Avalanche had 14 in the second and 11 in the third. Their best chance to grab the lead was when Milan Hejduk had a breakaway, but Roloson made a pad save.

Despite just four shots over the first 20 minutes, the Wild grabbed a 1-0 lead with 3:16 remaining when rookie Stephane Veilleux scored his first NHL goal.

Just 37 seconds after Mike Keane was called for boarding Matt Johnson behind the Minnesota net, Veilleux teamed up with Cliff Ronning and Dupuis.

Ronning fed Dupuis in the right slot and he passed to the 21-year-old left wing. Stationed along the right side of the crease, Veilleux tapped in a soft shot that trickled through Roy's pads.

Minnesota's only lead lasted just 1:53 into the second period. Brad Bombardir's clearing attempt failed and resulted in a turnover deep in the offensive zone. Vaclav Nedorost took the puck, passed to Serge Aubin in the right slot before Jeff Shantz received the pass alone at the crease and scored his first goal for Colorado.

Over 11 minutes later, Colorado took its first lead with an outstanding effort by Eric Messier. After Greg De Vries' wraparound went off Roloson's pads, Messier redirected the puck for his first goal of the season.

Colorado scored its 12th goal of the third period this season 2 1/2 minutes in. Battling for possession along the boards behind the net, Keane passed to Messier, who put a shot through Roloson's pads.

"We got a point," said Messier, who had first his career multi-goal game. "But like I said, it's a tough tie. Even if we got 40-something shots on the net. We have to give them credit because they played well. We had a couple of chances on the power play and we had a 5-on-3. Every time they had a scoring chance they seemed to put the puck in the net."

"Last year we played with all the confidence that we're playing with right now for probably half the year. We just have to keep on going the way we are right now. We're a team that works hard and tries to take advantage of the other team's mistakes."

Despite blowing a two-goal lead, Colorado is 9-1-1-0 all-time against Minnesota.