If the visitors locker room at Xcel Energy Center looks spotless after the Colorado Avalanche leave town, that just means these Minnesota Wild division rivals cleaned up there — and on the ice.

On Thursday, Jonathan Drouin scored a pair of goals for Colorado as the Avalanche clinched their season series with the Wild, winning 5-2 in their final head-to-head meeting of 2023-24.

Minnesota got goals from Vinni Lettieri and Declan Chisholm but not enough of anything else, falling to 36-30-9 and a step closer to mathematical elimination from the playoffs.

“I thought our guys played hard and battled back and the game was right in the balance. Again, we had opportunities to probably increase the lead, tie, increase the lead, we weren’t able to do that,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “But it wasn’t from a lack of opportunities or lack of effort. I don’t want to say lack of effort. I don’t think we really ever have a lack of effort.”

The loss came despite 31 saves from Filip Gustavsson and a quartet of Avalanche penalties in the second period that gave the Wild power play some exciting opportunities.

The Avalanche (48-22-6), who have clinched a playoff spot and are battling for home ice, got 44 saves from Justus Annunen and won for the second time in their past three games.

“They’re a big rival of ours,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar admitted. “I think there’s some hatred between the fans, for sure, and I think the guys understand that. We were able to do a nice job against them this year, which is good. We’ll take it.”

Colorado took an early lead courtesy of a shot from the point and a rebound produced when Gustavsson tried and failed to glove the puck. That allowed Artturi Lehkonen’s putback, but Minnesota had an answer before the first period was halfway done.

Lettieri posted his second goal in as many games, catching a pass from Mason Shaw, who was below the goal line, and ripping a rising shot from the right circle that caught the upper left corner of the net.

The cheers turned to boos a few minutes later, as Kirill Kaprizov went to the penalty box for tripping, and Colorado needed eight seconds of man advantage to retake the lead.

Trailing 3-1 near the midway point of the game, Minnesota’s extended power play made it a one-goal game again when Chisholm’s long-range shot from the blue line got through a crowd in front of Annunen.

“Power play’s been doing a lot of good things lately, just pucks haven’t been going in, so it was nice to see that one go in,” said Chisholm after his second goal of the season. Beyond that, he admitted that Colorado was maybe more than the Wild could handle. “They just don’t stop. They’re all very good skaters and they’re just consistent on the forecheck. They’re coming and they don’t stop. So any turnover is going to be a pretty good chance and they’re going hard to the net.”

After Minnesota made an early push in the third period, Nathan MacKinnon’s team-leading 48th goal of the season created some distance, and Mikko Rantanen’s empty-net goal with 88 seconds left triggered a de facto evacuation of the building.

While Hynes thought the Avalanche goalie was the difference-maker, Colorado’s coach was disappointed with some of what he saw in his net.

“I thought he had a slow start,” Bednar said. “I didn’t like the first goal, I didn’t love the second goal even though it was power play at the end of it. He got caught looking the wrong way, crouching down. Then from that point on I thought he was exceptional.”

The Wild fell to 8-12-3 versus Central Division foes. And with their playoff hopes dwindling, first-year coach Hynes said there is much to learn about his team in the way they face the next two weeks before the regular-season finale.

“We have to make sure we continue to play. You want to win games. That’s the NHL. That’s the objective of it, and it doesn’t change,” Hynes said. “Lots of times the true colors come out to me. When things are going well, everything’s good. But when you’re in the foxhole together and the bullets are flying and you gotta pull out of adversity and you gotta band together, especially for me coming in now, seeing now we’re in an adverse situation, what’s our response going to be as a team. I think these are the times that it does test your culture.”

The Wild will host Winnipeg on Saturday. The Jets clinched a playoff spot with a home win versus Calgary on Thursday evening.

Briefly

The Wild were without defenseman Zach Bogosian, who was scratched with an undisclosed injury. It was the eighth game he has missed due to injury this season. … Colorado forward Brandon Duhaime got a nice ovation from the audience when he was recognized during the first media timeout. Duhaime played nearly 200 games for the Wild before a trade to Colorado last month.

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Four Nashville pitchers held the St. Paul Saints to four hits over 10 innings, and the Sounds plated the winning run in the 10th for a 4-3 win Thursday at First Horizon Park in Nashville, Tenn.

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. had two hits for the Saints (3-2), and Jair Camargo also had two hits, including a 428-foot home run, and two RBIs.

In the bottom of the 10th, Nashville loaded the bases with no outs against Scott Blewett via the placed runner, an intentional walk and a bunt single by Yonny Hernandez. Nick Kahle then drilled the winning hit off the base of the wall in right field.

Randy Dobnak started for the Saints and allowed one run on three hits over 3 2/3 innings.

Evan McKendry pitched six solid innings for the Sounds, allowing two runs on four hits. Enoli Paredes pitched the final two innings, walking one and striking out three.

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A nurse who was tubing on western Wisconsin’s Apple River and found Isaac Schuman with a stab wound described on Thursday how she and others tried to save the Stillwater teen from dying.

A photo of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman is displayed in front of the jury during the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Monday, April 1, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores, Pool via Star Tribune)

Andrea Baldazo, a registered nurse from Forest Lake, was among the first to testify on the fourth day of the St. Croix County Circuit Court trial of Nicolae Miu, who is charged with fatally stabbing the 17-year-old Schuman and injuring four others during a river confrontation with tubers in Somerset on July 30, 2022.

After realizing Schuman was injured and in need of help near the water’s edge, Baldazo got off her tube and “Army crawled” through the shallow water, she said. Schuman’s eyes were open, but not blinking. He was not breathing.

“I started chest compressions right away and continued that for a long time,” Baldazo said, recalling that she and others took turns giving CPR, singing the children’s song “Baby Shark” to keep a steady rhythm.

Miu stabbed Schuman in the chest with great force, cutting through two ribs and slicing his heart, prosecutors said Monday. He died almost immediately.

Baldazo’s testimony was part of the prosecution’s shift Thursday from witness accounts of the violent encounter to the response, including law enforcement’s arrival at the scene and Miu’s arrest at Village Park about a mile downstream an hour later.

Prosecutors called Somerset police officers and several sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene. Clips from their body-worn camera videos were played to the jury.

Miu, 54, of Prior Lake, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Schuman’s death and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the stabbings of Rhyley Mattison, then 24, of Burnsville; A.J. Martin, then 22, of Elk River; and brothers Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson, who were both in their early 20s and from Luck, Wis.

Miu claimed he acted in self-defense after being attacked by a large group of angry and intoxicated tubers who accused him of being a “pedophile” while he was looking for a lost cellphone and carrying a snorkel and goggles. Miu’s attorney, Aaron Nelson, told jurors during Monday’s opening statement that he was “outnumbered” and “feared for his life.”

St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson told Judge R. Michael Waterman on Thursday that the state expects to rest its case Monday or Tuesday. The trial in Hudson will then shift to defense attorneys’ witnesses. It’s unclear whether Miu will testify.

Confrontation

Janell Duxbury, who was the first to testify Thursday, said she was napping while floating on the river with a group that included Madison Coen, the Carlsons and Mattison. Duxbury said she was awakened by Mattison telling her, “Hey, let’s go check it out.”

Witness Janell Duxbury is asked about the size of the blade during questioning at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores / Pool via Star Tribune)

Duxbury said she heard Coen yelling at Miu, then the right side of Coen’s face turn toward her “and she kind of stumbled down and got back up and then walked away.”

“Did you see Mr. Miu’s hand or fist make contact with Maddie’s face?” Deputy District Attorney Brian Smestad asked Duxbury.

“I did not see it make contact, no,” she said.

Duxbury said she saw “a lot of chaos and yelling” and then Dante Carlson run up to Miu and punch him while yelling, “Never hit a woman!” Miu punched him back, then stabbed Mattison.

“I thought it was like a little punch towards her ribs, until he had removed his hand,” Duxbury said. “I saw the knife come out of my friend’s side.”

In cross-examination, Miu’s attorney Corey Chirafisi asked whether she had said in her interview with law enforcement that her group approached Miu to “build a wall.” She said she did.

Duxbury said that Coen, before she was punched, was in Miu’s face and yelling and swearing at him to go away.

Miu was not being aggressive toward Mattison before the stabbing, Duxbury said. She described Miu as being “very expressionless, hollow, almost like a demonic look in his face. I don’t know how else to describe it other than his eyes did not look human.”

Upon further questioning by Chirafisi, Duxbury said there were approximately 13 people around Miu at the time.

Miu’s arrest

Sgt. Chase Durand, with the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department, takes the stand during the fourth day of the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Nicolae Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores / Pool via Star Tribune)

The testimony then turned to law enforcement and body-camera video.

St. Croix County sheriff’s Sgt. Chase Durand said that when he arrived on scene he saw two stabbing victims: a man, who was up and walking, and a woman lying on an inner tube in the river.

Prosecution played clip of Durands’ body-cam video, which turned on as he entered the water. He approached a group of three people who were helping Martin, who had been stabbed in the stomach. “We’re here for you,” a woman told Martin as she gripped his right hand.

Durand asked a man standing in the river if had information about the suspect. He told the deputy the suspect is “5-9, 5-10, a Russian-looking guy.” Another bystander said the suspect was in his 50s or 60s. Durand relayed the information over his radio.

St. Croix County Deputy Benjamin Trebian takes the stand during the fourth day of the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Nicolae Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores / Pool via Star Tribune)

Deputy Benjamin Trebian’s body-cam video then gave jurors a look at Miu’s arrest. A deputy is seen placing handcuffs on Miu, who is wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, swim trunks and a long-sleeve camouflage shirt. He tells Miu that he is “just being detained at this point, OK?” “Yes,” Miu replied.

Trebian noted markings on Miu’s hands, and testified that he took photos for potential evidence.

In cross-examination, Nelson asked Trebian if the marks on Miu’s hands could have been from falling into a river and hitting rocks or the river bottom. “Potentially,” the deputy said.

Upon questioning, Trebian said he did not notice any signs that Miu had been drinking alcohol.

In redirect examination by Smestad, Trebian said that Miu did not approach law enforcement officers before his arrest. He appeared to be in a “trance-like state, almost,” the deputy said.

Nelson then asked Trebian during re-cross examination whether victims of violent crime can express a “trance-like state.” “Potentially, yes,” the deputy said.

The prosecution also played a body-cam clip in which sheriff’s Lt. Mitch Thomason told Miu, while in the back of a squad car, that he was “being arrested for homicide and attempted homicide.”

According to the criminal complaint against Miu, he told sheriff’s Lt. Brandie Hart later in his formal interview that he did not know what happened to the people who confronted him.

“I told Nic that four individuals sustained injuries and one person died,” Hart wrote in the complaint. “Nic said, ‘Oh no’ and asked if the individuals sustained injuries because they were fighting with each other.”

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