Avs tame Wild, matching their victory total from last season
AVALANCHE 7, WILD 2
The NHL’S worst team last season has become one of the league’s biggest success stories and, indeed, is sniffing the Western Conference playoffs.
The Avalanche, which played its 41st game Saturday night to reach the midpoint of the season, extended its winning streak to five games and won for the 22nd time on the season to match the win total from the disaster that was 2016-17.
In a chippy game at the Pepsi Center following Milan Hejduk’s jersey retirement ceremony, Colorado never trailed and went on to pound Central Division rival Minnesota 7-2 behind six goal scorers.
“The Milan Hejduk event at the start, I think, was a great look at some of the history of this proud franchise and the guys really enjoyed it,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, whose team doesn’t play again until next Saturday at Dallas. “We talked about their preparation coming out of that. They saw all the fans packed in the building and they’re already cheering before the game starts. It gets your emotions up and our guys played a passionate, spirited affair.”
The Avs, who scored three power-play goals — two from Carl Soderberg — improved to 22-16-3 to tie Minnesota (22-17-3) for the eighth and final playoff slot with 47 points. But Colorado has a game in hand over the Wild, which trailed 2-1 after the first period and 4-2 after the second before pulling frustrated goalie Devan Dubnyk in the third.
Dubnyk’s double-minor penalty for roughing led to Nathan Mackinnon’s power-play goal at 7:17 of the third period, and that was it for Dubnyk. Mackinnon and linemate Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and two assists, and goalie Jonathan Bernier was terrific in his third start in the last five games.
Colorado is 7-1-1 in its last nine games and 10-3-1 since snapping a four-game losing streak Dec. 9 at Florida.
Forward Gabriel Bourque and defenseman Patrik Nemeth also scored to help the Avs take a 4-2 lead into the third, and rookie forward Tyson Jost made it 7-2 late. The Wild got both of its goals from veteran center Eric Staal.
The Avs, whose 47 points are just two shy of what they amassed last season, came out with a lot of energy and took a 2-0 lead because of it. Bourque scored with a wrist shot from between the circles at 7:38, and Nemeth struck with a big slap shot from the point at 18:16. It was all Colorado.
But on the second-to-last shift of the period, Staal put in a rebound off Jonas Brodin’s shot and Minnesota was down by just one goal heading into the first intermission.
Rantanen got the Avs back ahead by two at 16:19 of the second period, roofing a back-hander from the right post. But the Wild scored again in the final minute of a period, this time on the power play by Staal, and the visitors were still in it after two.
Minnesota unraveled in the third. Forward Jason Zucker was whistled for interference at 4:29. and Soderberg made him pay with a power-play goal.
“It was so loud and a big divisional game. It was a perfect night for us,” Soderberg said.