The Minnesota Wild fell in yet another high scoring Stanley Cup Playoff contest in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday Night.

After a 9-6 loss in Game One, the team aimed to sharpen things up defensively in Game Two, which included a pre-game change at goalie.

The Wild ultimately fell in Game Two 5-2, but there are plenty of positives to take away from the first portion of the series.

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Per ESPN.com:

It's possible that the work done by the Minnesota Wild over the next three days could make the difference in turning around their postseason or having it come to an end.

Their 5-2 defeat Tuesday to the host Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals has the Wild in a 2-0 series hole. Minnesota has produced only one comeback from this kind of deficit in franchise's history. In 2014, the Wild rallied to eliminate the Avalanche in seven games.

"It's not good enough," Wild forward Matt Boldy said. "So, it's on us. We've got to make adjustments and be way better."

Opening the series with a 9-6 loss led to Wild coach John Hynes making a few changes. He replaced rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt with veteran Filip Gustavsson along with removing defenseman Zach Bogosian for Jeff Petry.

The Wild were still without veteran top-four defenseman Jonas Brodin and top-six center Joel Eriksson Ek. Both sat out Game 1 because of lower-body injuries and didn't make the trip to Denver.

Colorado's Martin Necas scoring within the first three minutes before Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov scored six seconds later to create the belief it could be another high-scoring game.

It was for the Avalanche, who have scored more than four goals in four consecutive games this postseason. Two of those goals came at the expense of a Wild penalty kill that has struggled.

Gabriel Landeskog scored the Avalanche's first power-play goal with 11:36 left in the first period for a 2-1 lead. And Colorado already had a 3-1 lead entering the third period when Nathan MacKinnon scored their second power-play goal for a 4-1 lead with 6:42 left.

All told, Colorado went 2-for-5 on the power play with its fifth goal an empty-netter.

"We did good things tonight," Hynes said. "Special teams need to be better."

In the regular season, Minnesota's penalty kill was a league-average unit. Its 79.8% success rate was 16th out of 32 teams. But the playoffs have been a different story with the Wild's penalty kill registering a 59.4% success rate. Heading into Wednesday, it's the second-worst rating behind the Edmonton Oilers.

"We've got to keep our frustration away and keep going with what we have," Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said. "Obviously, they are a good team over there and they're going to make plays when we make mistakes. We've got to limit those."

Hynes and his staff will have three days to figure out how to swing the series.

The Avalanche and Wild will have an extended break because Grand Casino Arena, home of the Wild, is hosting the PWHL Walter Cup Playoff semifinal games Thursday and Friday between the Montreal Victoire and the Minnesota Frost.

It's possible that the time between games could be enough for the Wild to get Brodin and Eriksson Ek back into the lineup with Hynes saying at Tuesday's morning skate that both players would be reevaluated.

Hynes could also consider other adjustments. He was asked about what he could do with his defense pairings knowing that the team's second pairing of Jake Middleton and Spurgeon has faced challenges. Middleton has been on the ice for nine goals by the Avalanche, and Spurgeon has been on for eight.

Those struggles, along with Brodin's absence, has further emphasized the importance of Minnesota's No. 1 defense pairing in Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes.

"We travel back tonight and we've got a couple days there," Hynes said. "It'll be a combination of practice and meetings and recovery time. Usually, we have a good schedule for that and regroup a bit and be ready to go."

Source: Wild searching for answers as Avalanche cruise to 2-0 lead - ESPN