St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Keith Carney scored the game-winning goal 1:14 into overtime, as the Minnesota Wild clipped the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, to even their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series at one game apiece.

In the extra session, Carney collected the puck at the left circle and fired a slap shot that appeared to deflect off Avs defenseman Ruslan Salei's skate before veering past Jose Theodore.

Pavol Demitra and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild, while Niklas Backstrom made 24 saves to earn the victory.

"We didn't come out they way we wanted to in the first period, but we took over in the second and third," Minnesota forward Eric Belanger said. "You can't be too high, you can't be too low in the playoffs. We got to take this one and move on."

Peter Forsberg registered a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who will host Game 3 on Monday. Theodore allowed three goals on 31 shots in defeat.

"Well we thought every game would be close," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "Certainly, it was an exciting finish, but you can't get any closer than these two games."

This marks the fourth straight playoff meeting between these clubs that ended in overtime, with each contest decided by a 3-2 margin.

The Wild grabbed a 2-1 with 1:51 remaining in regulation. A costly turnover by Colorado's John-Michael Liles in the neutral zone allowed Koivu to enter the offensive zone and rifle a slap shot that slid underneath the left pad of Theodore.

Shortly after the go-ahead tally, Kim Johnsson hauled down Ryan Smyth in the low slot, resulting in a two-minute minor for hooking. Colorado pulled Theodore to create a 6-on-4 advantage and the move proved to be beneficial, as Milan Hejduk redirected Liles' blast from the point past Backstrom with 44 seconds left on the clock.

Colorado opened the scoring with 2:54 remaining in the first period. Forsberg carried the puck across the blue line, calmly walked into the slot and snapped a wrister high over the catching glove of Backstrom.

Both netminders were flawless in the middle stanza. Backstrom made eight saves, while Theodore stopped all seven shots fired his way.

Forsberg was assessed a hooking minor with 15 seconds to play before the second intermission and the power play carried over to the third period, where Minnesota notched the game-tying goal. Brent Burns dished to Demitra, who launched a slap shot from the left point that bounced off the far post and in behind Theodore at the 1:37 mark.