DENVER — Minnesota Wild fans enter March, and the stretch run toward the NHL playoffs, hoping that six weeks from now, they won’t look back at Friday’s game at Colorado as a microcosm.
The Wild were among the hottest teams in the league one-third of the way through the season but have hit a rough patch as injuries continue to take a toll. Similarly, on Friday they twice took the lead versus the Avalanche early, only to see things go south in a 5-2 loss — their third in a row.
Perhaps most significantly, the win by the Avalanche now has them tied with Minnesota for third place in the Central Division with one game remaining between the two teams, although the Wild have played one fewer game than Colorado.
Mats Zuccarello and Vinnie Hinostroza scored first-period goals for Minnesota, which led 2-1 after 20 minutes, but from there, things turned sour quickly.
Filip Gustavsson had 25 saves for the Wild, who had split their first two games with Colorado this season, with the road team winning both. They close out the season series March 11 in St. Paul.
Minnesota, which had played from behind all night 24 hours earlier in a 6-1 loss at Utah, stuck first on Friday when Zuccarello found himself uncovered in front of the Colorado net. Marcus Johansson fed him a pass, and Zuccarello popped a shot past Mackenzie Blackwood for his 13th goal of the season. For Zuccarello, it snapped a 10-game streak without a goal dating back to Jan. 25, when he scored in a 5-4 home loss to Calgary.
Colorado evened the score on its first power play of the game, but Minnesota’s man advantage unit had an answer, as Hinostroza redirected a Brock Faber shot past Blackwood to give the visitors a 2-1 lead after one period. For Hinostroza, it was his third goal in six games with the Wild since being claimed off waivers from Nashville in early February.
But Colorado’s offense came to life in a second period that turned out to be disastrous for the Wild.
The Avalanche victimized Gustavsson twice in 52 seconds to take their first lead of the game, then extended it when a Wild pinch at the far blue line touched off a 2-on-1 rush by Colorado. Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin got a piece of the puck in front of Gustavsson, but not enough to thwart the play, and Ross Colton scored to put the home team up 4-2.
Colorado outshot Minnesota 13-5 in the period, which included a shift where a pair of Wild defenders were stuck on the ice for three minutes each.
Brodin only played one shift in the third period, then headed down the tunnel and left the game. Colorado added an empty net power play goal with 8 seconds to play.
Back-to-back penalties on Colorado at the start of the third gave the Wild four minutes of power play time, but the opportunity was wasted as they failed to get a shot on Blackwood or dent the Avalanche lead.
Blackwood finished with 19 saves for Colorado.
Minnesota juggled defensemen before the game, as Zach Bogosian was scratched with a lower body injury ( he is considered day to day). Jon Merrill, who had been a healthy scratch the previous two games, returned to the Wild blue line.
They also made one change at forward, with Brendan Gaunce back in the lineup for the first time since a 4-0 win at Carolina on Jan. 4. Devin Shore was the healthy scratch to open a spot for Gaunce.
For Bogosian, it was the first game he has missed this season.
The Wild play 15 games in March, 11 of them at home, starting on Sunday when the Boston Bruins make their lone visit to Xcel Energy Center this season. It is a 2:30 p.m. puck drop as Minnesota looks to avenge a 3-0 loss in Boston on Feb. 4.
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