Avalanche's Semyon Varlamov makes 44 saves to force OT in Game 3 vs. Wild

The Minnesota Wild have fired 44 shots to the Colorado Avalanche's 20 through three periods of Game 3 on Monday, but Colorado netminder Semyon Varlamov has turned them all aside.

Varlamov has faced a game-high seven shots from Wild sniper Zach Parise, as well as six from Mikael Granlund. He stopped 13 shots in the final 20 minutes to force overtime.

[Source: ExtraSkater.com]

Minnesota has dominated puck-possession all game, employing veterans like captain Mikko Koivu and top defenseman Ryan Suter to physically neutralize Colorado's best offensive line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Paul Stastny. The Avalanche have created two goals outside of that trio in the series.

Mikael Granlund eventually gave the Wild the victory in overtime. Varlamov finished with 45 saves on 46 shots.