Stalock makes 24 stops, Wild beat Columbus

COLUMBUS, OHIO » Alex Stalock stopped 24 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and Minnesota beat Columbus for the second time this week.

Zach Parise and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist to help the Wild win their third straight and improve to 12-5-1 in their past 18. They moved within a point of a wild card in the crowded Western Division.

A day after a 7-1 rout of Detroit in the first leg of the back-to-back, the Wild also got goals from Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Hartman. Stalock had his ninth career shutout.

Joonas Korpisalo, starting for the first time since a knee injury Dec. 29, gave up four goals on 15 shots before being pulled with 7:30 left in the second period. Matiss Kivlenieks replaced him and had 10 saves. The injury-plagued Blue Jackets lost for the 10th time in 11 games (1-5-5), but still hold the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

AVALANCHE 3, HURRICANES 2 » Samuel Girard scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:37 left in the third period and Colorado won its fifth straight.

Tyson Jost scored twice for the Avalanche, and Pavel Francouz stopped 45 shots to win his fifth consecutive start. Colorado won its seventh consecutive road game, matching the longest road winning streak in franchise history.

Girard took a crossice pass from Gabriel Landeskog and lifted a shot high into the net to break a 2-2 tie. The Avalanche won after allowing Carolina to rally from a 2-0 deficit.

Carolina got two goals from Teuvo Teravainen in the third period to tie the score, but fell for the second straight game to a top team from the Western Conference. Anton Forsberg, recalled from Charlotte of the AHL after Petr Mrazek and James Reimer were injured Saturday in Toronto, made 29 saves for the Hurricanes.