For the second time in less than two weeks, the Colorado Avalanche had a chance to gain ground on a wounded Minnesota Wild team.
The first meeting was one of the best performances of the season for the Avalanche. What transpired Monday afternoon at Ball Arena would be much closer to the bottom of that list.
Some of the issues that looked fixed two days ago in a decisive win against the Dallas Stars were again troubling for the Avs in a 3-1 loss to the Wild.
Take Our PollMackenzie Blackwood was excellent for the first 40 minutes and Nathan MacKinnon produced a world-class goal, but it was a long, frustrating day for the club otherwise. The Avs would have moved ahead of the Wild into third place in the Central Division with a win, but remain in fourth.
Colorado was fortunate to even after 40 minutes, but Minnesota took control of this one with back-to-back goals early in the the third.
RELATED: How midseason shakeup changed the Avalanche locker room: “We’re closer as a group”Former Avalanche center Yakov Trenin gave the Wild the lead at 2:08 after a nice play by David Jiricek to set him up in the slot for a one-timer. Brock Faber, who didn’t play 11 days ago when Colorado beat this team, 6-1, at Xcel Energy Center, made it a two-goal lead at 3:43.
That play started with a Juuso Parssinen’s dump-in being intercepted and turned back into an offensive possession for the Wild. Ryan Hartman found Faber at the top of the zone, and he went to the net unchecked before beating Blackwood with a shot.
The Avs didn’t generate a lot of offense in the opening 38 minutes, but MacKinnon crafted one of the best goals of the season late in the second to get Colorado on the board.
MacKinnon started the sequence by blocking a shot in his own zone, then carrying the puck to the other end. He peeled off above the right circle, sending Jake Middleton flailing out of the play.
After a pass to Samuel Girard, MacKinnon got the puck back in the high slot, deked by Trenin and then snapped a shot past Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 1:08 remaining in the second.
It was MacKinnon’s 18th goal of the season and league-leading 74th point. It was also one of MacKinnon’s most animated celebrations of the campaign.
Before MacKinnon’s highlight-reel play, the Avs were only within one goal because of Blackwood. Minnesota outshot Colorado 22-11 across the opening two periods, and Blackwood made two of the best saves of this season by goalie to keep Colorado close.
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With Minnesota on the power play in the second period, Marco Rossi set up Joel Eriksson in the slot with a great pass while falling down, but Blackwood’s glove save on the ensuing one-timer was even better.
Middleton gave the Wild the lead with the lone goal in the opening period. He shot from the left point beat Blackwood at 12:18 through a quartet of bodies in front of the net.
While the Avs have had an incredible amount of injury issues this season, the Wild were missing their best player, MVP candidate Kirill Kaprizov, and two of their three best defensemen (Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin) in this contest.
FOOTNOTES: MacKinnon and Cale Makar were named to the Avalanche’s quarter-century team, the NHL announced Monday. MacKinnon and Makar were joined on the first team by Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote and Patrick Roy. Captain Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen were named to the second team. The voting panel included a group of broadcasters, writers who have covered the team and select former players.
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