Avs beat Wild to stay in playoff hunt

ST. PAUL, Minn. – They didn’t get a power play until midway through the period, despite this game having more enmity than a brother and sister fighting over who gets to use the communal bathroom first. They had all of four shots on goal in the first period. They had only 19 shots on net with five minutes left in the game.

Somehow, through all that, the Colorado Avalanche never trailed en route to a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night in front of a quiet Xcel Energy Center crowd. 

J.T. Compher scored two goals – his first since Feb. 10 – and Semyon Varmalov was Varlemous for an Avs team that maintained a grip on a top-8 playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Nathan MacKinnon scored just 11 seconds into the third period to give the Avs a 3-1 lead, his 33rd goal of the year. The Avs had a 2-1 edge after two despite being outshot 27-15 by the Wild, on goals Compher and Nikita Zadorov.

Zadorov’s goal was huge, coming just 50 seconds after Mikko Koivu had scored to tie it in the second period.

“I jumped off the bench and our forwards won a corner battle,” Zadorov said. “I was wide open in the slot and (Blake Comeau) made a good pass. I shot it and saw a side was open and I hit it.”

The Avs had to kill off four straight Minnesota power plays before finally getting a call in the third after Carl Soderberg – who was terrific all night in a physical, penalty-killing role – was held.

Compher made the Wild’s Marcus Foligno pay for a dirty charging penalty on the Avs’ Matt Nieto in the third.

MacKinnon’s goal, through the 5-hole on the first shift of the third, seemed to take all the air out of the building. Prior to that, the Avs had kind of just been playing one of those “Let’s try and hang on” kind of road games, leaving most of it up to Varlamov. But after that, everything seemed to change. The Wild suddenly was the frustrated team, taking penalties and griping at the refs – much like the Avs had been in the first two – and Colorado made them pay on the scoreboard.

The Avs conclude a two-game road swing Thursday in St. Louis.