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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When asked if he’s ever had a bigger goal, Will Dosan said he didn’t think so, but noted he’s got three games to go in his high school career.

That’s because he was in the right spot at the right time.

The senior captain netted the game-winner with 3:15 left in double-overtime and St. Thomas Academy beat Cretin-Derham Hall 3-2 Friday in the Class 2A, Section 3 final at a sold-out Braemar Arena.

With almost everyone on their feet who was able, Gus Olson took a shot from near the boards and Dosan was just outside the blue paint to slam home the rebound for the far bigger of his two goals.

It’s the third straight year the schools have met for the section title. Cretin-Derham Hall won the previous two.

“St. Thomas has a lot of tradition, we got back to it and we’re going to the state tournament,” Dosan said.

Making its first appearance since 2021, the Cadets (23-5-0) will begin play Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center. Seedings and brackets are to be announced Saturday morning.

Marcus Matyas scored with 13.7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and Nate Chorlton also scored for Cretin-Derham Hall (23-4-1), looking for its fourth straight state tournament berth.

Coach Matt Funk said the message to his team was to keep playing their game and get pucks behind the St. Thomas Academy defense and to the net.

“I thought it was going to take a bounce, anything to beat a good goaltender. We had two of the best goalies in the state out there tonight. … This one’s going to sting for a while but at the end of the day it was just an awesome hockey game.”

Cody Niesen made 41 saves for St. Thomas Academy; Owen Nelson matched that number for Cretin-Derham Hall

Down 2-1 with the goalie pulled, Cretin-Derham Hall hit two posts in a 20-second span in the final minute in regulation. With the offensive pressure maintained Jonny Bloedow had the puck on his stick in front of the St. Thomas Academy student section.

His pass across went to found Matyas all alone in the right circle and the sophomore hammered home a one-timer.

“We were definitely down a little bit, but our leaders stepped up and we fought through it,” said defenseman Pat Cronin. “In the first overtime we kind of turned the tide in the second half then came out hard in the second one.”

Even though both teams entered averaging at least five goals per game, a low-scoring affair was to be expected with each team also sporting a stingy defense. St. Thomas Academy entered the night allowing a mere 1.59 goals per game, Cretin-Derham Hall 1.70.

St. Thomas Academy took a 2-1 lead midway through the second period.

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On the penalty kill, Will Dosan, a Princeton-commit, perfectly read a Cretin-Derham Hall pass, picking it off in his own end. Taking off the other way with nothing but white ice between he and the goal, Dosan made a couple forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand moves before scoring low for a 2-1 advantage.

Chorlton, a Colorado College commit, scored on a quick wrister from the slot midway through the first period for a 1-0 Raiders’ lead, but St. Thomas answered just over four minutes later with the Harvard-bound Michael Mikan scoring from near the same spot at the other end during a 5-on-3 power play.

Minnesota went to Penn State for a weekend series knowing they can still win the Big Ten Conference title. That goal remains alive, but barely after a 4-3 overtime loss at Pegula Arena.

Jimmy Snuggerud tied the game 3-3 midway through the third period, but Penn State’s Simon Mack scored with 1 minute, 51 seconds left in overtime to left the Nittany Lions to their 13th win in 14 games.

Mason Nevers and Connor Kurth also scored goals, and Liam Souliere, who spent his first four years of eligibility at Penn State, stopped 24 of 28 shots for the Gophers. Their point for the overtime loss tied them with Michigan State, a 5-2 winner at Notre Dame, atop the conference standings with 47 points and indentical 14-5-4 records.

According to Big Ten Conference rules, if both teams remain tied after Saturday’s games, the tiebreaker will fall to best record against their remaining conference opponents. Minnesota has won Big Ten regular-season or tournament titles in three of the past four years.

Minnesota took a quick lead on a goal by Nevers just 2:40 into the first period on assists by Becket Henderdickson and Leo Gruba.

The Gophers took that lead into the first intermission but the Nittany Lions had it erased by mid-period of the second on goals just 46 seconds apart by Matt DiMarsico and JJ Wiebusch to make it 2-1.

Minnesota tied the game on Connor Kurth’s power-play goal with 2:04 left in the second period. Erik Påhlsson and Brodie Ziemer had the assists. It stayed 2-2 until midway through the third.

Mittelstadt was penalized for tripping, and Penn State made hay on the man advantage, taking a 3-2 lead on Danny Dzhaniyev’s goal at 9:22. Snuggerud, however, quickly made it 3-3 with an even-strength goal at 11:44. Oliver Moore and Mittelstadt earned the assists.

The teams meet again to close the regular season with a 7 p.m. CT puck drop on Saturday.

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The Gophers will take their 6-1 victory over the Minnesota State Mavericks, warts and all, as they stretched their winning streak to four games in the opener of their best-of-three WCHA quarterfinal playoff series Friday night at Ridder Arena.

There were far too many giveaways in their end for coach Brad Frost’s liking, but the fourth-ranked Gophers (26-9-1) used their superior skill to pull away from the Mavericks (13-20-2).

Aside from the win, the highlight of the night for the Gophers was the continued stellar play of sophomore center Emma Kreisz, who led the way with two goals and three assists. Kreisz has nine goals this season, with four of them coming in the last five games.

“I think really it’s just consistency,” Kreisz said. “And it’s not just showing up for games it’s also showing up for practices. I had a tough year with my team back home — Team Hungary — and that took a little focus away.

“But that’s over, and I’m all in. I’m focused on the here and now.”

The 5-foot-9 Kreisz, a native of Budapest, Hungary, was away for the team at the start of the new year to be with her national team trying to qualify for the Olympics. While Hungary’s attempt came up short, Kreisz was happy with the way she played, and has seen it carry over.

“It’s about getting feedback from the coaches and getting better at those areas I need to focus on,” Kreisz said. “Like using my size and taking pucks to the net, because I’m big girl, so I’ve got to use my size.”

Kreisz said she feels she is playing her best hockey right now, but added, “I think there’s more.”
Kreisz’s line — with Peyton Hemp and Ava Lindsay on the wings — scored five of the Gophers’ six goals, with Lindsay also netting a pair.

Frost has juggled his second and third lines a bit this season, but seems to have hit on something with Kreisz centering the second line and Natalie Mlynkova centering the third line between Emma Connor and Audrey Wethington.

“Last year we played a ton together,” Kreisz said. “When I came back after being gone for a few weeks I was back with them and we clicked right away. I love playing with them. We enjoy each other off the ice, too. There’s good chemistry.”

The Gophers scored the only goal of the first period, with Ava Lindsay picking up her fifth of the season at 9:08. The Gophers outshot the Mavericks 17-5 in the period.

Kreisz’s first goal of the game gave the Gophers a 2-0 lead at 1:40 of the second period. The Gophers thought they had taken a 3-0 lead at 3:25, but following a challenge by Minnesota skate the play was determined that the play was offside.

The Gophers went on their first power play of the game at 16:36 and needed just over a minute to cash in, with Kreisz redirecting a shot by Abbey Murphy past Mavericks goaltender Hailey Hansen.

The Mavericks got back in the game with a goal 14 seconds into the third period. Gophers goaltender Hannah Clark made a save on a clear breakaway at 6:43 of the period, and it proved to be a pivotal moment. The Gophers scored three times in the final five minutes.

“I’m happy with the win but not necessarily with how we played for the 60 minutes,” Frost said.
“Hannah Clark was really good tonight and gave us a chance. We pulled away at the end, so it looks like it wasn’t as close as it actually was.”

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Frost’s message to the team after the game was that it will need to play much better defensively if the Gophers are to make a deep run in the postseason.

The Gophers, who won all four games against the Mavericks during the regular season, will advance to the WCHA Final Faceoff with a win over the Mavericks on Saturday.

“The odd-man rushes are in our focus,” Kreisz said. “We didn’t do a really good job. I think that’s for us to correct tomorrow. If we limit those opportunities we’re going to be just fine.”