Rapid Recap: Wild 3, Avalanche 2

ST. PAUL, Minn.--The Colorado Avalanche erased a two-goal, second-period deficit but couldn't rally again, falling 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night.
Mats Zuccarello and Jordan Greenway both scored in the first 2:41 of the middle frame to open the game's scoring, but Cale Makar tied the contest for the Avs with two goals of his own prior to the second intermission.
Andre Burakovsky recorded two assists, and Samuel Girard and Nathan MacKinnon also had a helper each.

Jason Zucker tallied the game-winning goal midway through the third period.
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Highlights
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Watch: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
1:48 MIN (0-1) - PPG, Mats Zuccarello chipped in the puck from the low slot after receiving a quick pass from Mikko Koivu.
2:31 MIN (0-2) - Jordan Greenway scored in front after getting a feed from Luke Kunin.
14:19 COL (1-2) - PPG, Cale Makar took a pass from Nathan MacKinnon and fired a wrist shot from the high slot that went top shelf.
18:49 COL (2-2) - Cale Makar received a pass from Andre Burakovsky, stickhandled past a Wild player at the right circle and unleashed a shot that found twine to tie the game.
3rd Period
9:58 MIN (2-3) - Jason Zucker knocked in the puck after it was laying in the crease
Final: Wild - 3 | Avalanche - 2

3 STARS

Selected by Wild TV

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 2
Minnesota: 1 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves, including 11 in each the first and second periods
Minnesota: Alex Stalock stopped 25-of-27 shots

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Another Helping of Cale, Please: Cale Makar scored twice in the second period for his second multi-goal game and fifth multi-point contest of the season.
Makar, who is on a three-game point streak (two goals, five assists), now has 15 points in the month, the third-most by a rookie defenseman in NHL history during the month of November behind Larry Murphy's 18 (1980) and Nicklas Lidstrom's 17 (1991)… Makar's 15 points are tied for fourth overall in the NHL for scoring this month and are the sixth-most in any month by a defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history.
The blueliner already leads all rookies in assists (18) and points (25) and is now tied for first in goals with Buffalo's Victor Olofsson (seven). His 25 points are the second most for a defenseman in the NHL this year.

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche had a player score multiple goals for a seventh straight game, tying the franchise record of having a player record at least two goals in game, a mark set by the Quebec Nordiques from Nov. 24-Dec. 10, 1983… Andre Burakovsky extended his career-long, multi-point streak to four games (five goals, three assists)… Nathan MacKinnon (two goals, four assists) is one a three-game point streak… The Avalanche finished the road trip with a 3-2-0 record. It was the team's second of three trips this season of five or more games… Makar is the second defenseman in franchise history to register more than one multi-goal game in his rookie campaign. Pierre Lacroix also produced two multi-goal outings during the 1979-80 season (Nov. 20, 1979 vs. Boston and Jan. 27, 1980 vs. Detroit)... The Wild tied the season series at 1-1-0… Colorado and Minnesota will play five times in 2019-20, and the Wild is the only club the Avs will play three times on the road. The teams next play on Dec. 27 in Denver.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Jared Bednar after the game: "Tonight again, and we had some horses tonight. I was overplaying a handful of guys because they were going, but we need everyone going. Especially now with some of the guys that you have out of the lineup, you need guys, you need everyone pulling their weight and I didn't think we had that tonight. We've had it, and tonight we just didn't. We'll review it and move on to the next one."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made his second consecutive start in net after being activated from injured reserve on Tuesday… Defenseman Mark Barberio & forward A.J. Greer were scratched… The Avs began the game with the same line combinations as Tuesday's outing in Calgary.

INJURY UPDATE

Tyson Jost missed his third game of the season with an upper-body injury but is getting close to a return… Matt Calvert is recovering in Colorado after being hit in the head by a shot on Saturday in Vancouver… Gabriel Landeskog (out indefinitely), Mikko Rantanen (week-to-week) and Colin Wilson (day-to-day) remain out with lower-body injuries.

UP NEXT

After 11 days and five games on the road, Colorado returns to Pepsi Center to begin a two-game homestand. The Avalanche hosts the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday in an early 5 p.m. MT game. Colorado will play three of its next four outings in Denver.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 72 Joonas Donskoi
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 91 Nazem Kadri - 37 J.T. Compher
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 12 Jayson Megna
36 T.J. Tynan - 81 Vladislav Kamenev - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz