Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, Cale Makar and Brock Nelson had a goal and two assists each, and the Colorado Avalanche cooled off the Minnesota Wild with a 5-1 win on Sunday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 28 shots, Martin Necas also scored and Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin had two assists each for Colorado, which has won five in a row and ended Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak.
Ryan Hartman had a goal and Jesper Wallstedt made 37 saves for the Wild. Minnesota lost for the first time in five games since acquiring Quinn Hughes from Vancouver.
It was scoreless until Necas got a pass from Makar in the right circle and lifted a shot over Wallstedt’s left shoulder at 18:28 of the first period.
The Avalanche appeared to take a 2-0 lead early in the second period when Sam Malinski knocked in a rebound, but the Wild successfully challenged for offsides.
Colorado did get the second goal later in the period on a power play. The Avalanche worked the puck around the offensive zone, Nelson fluttered a pass to MacKinnon near the slot and his slap shot beat Wallstedt at 13:37.
The Avalanche struck again on the power play late in the second. Landeskog won the offensive zone faceoff back to Nelson. He slid the puck to Makar, who glided to the middle of the blueline and wristed a shot by Wallstedt at 18:33 to make it 3-0.
Minnesota finally broke through against Blackwood early in the third period. The Wild swarmed around the Colorado zone before the puck went to Jonas Brodin at the top. Brodin’s shot went off the left post and Hartman was there to clean up the rebound at 5:15.
The Avalanche sealed it when Samuel Girard sent a diagonal pass to Nelson in the right circle, and he beat Wallstedt with a one-timer at 15:52.
Wallstedt came off for an extra skater and MacKinnon scored into the empty net at 17:35 for his NHL-leading 30th goal.
–Field Level Media
