Rapid Recap: Avalanche 5, Wild 4

The Colorado Avalanche scored four unanswered goals in the second period and extended its point streak to 15 games (13-0-2) with a 5-4 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Monday.
Nathan MacKinnon and Andre Burakovsky both had a goal and an assist in the outing, while Samuel Girard had two helpers. Brandon Saad, J.T. Compher and Gabriel Landeskog also found the back of the net in the victory.
Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves in goal to record his 24th win of the season and set a new franchise mark for consecutive games (13) with a point.

Ryan Hartman had a goal and two helpers and goaltender Cam Talbot made 31 saves. Nick Bjugstad and Marcus Johansson also had multi-point outings for the Wild, with each skater finding the back of the net and adding a helper.
Colorado and Minnesota conclude their eight-game season series on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.

THE GOALS

1st Period
8:40 MIN (0-1) - Nick Bjugstad drove to the net and Ryan Hartman finished the play with a goal from the slot.
2nd Period
0:18 COL (1-1) - Nathan MacKinnon received a center-ice pass from Samuel Girard and scored his 14th of the year after skating past the Minnesota defense.
1:30 COL (2-1) - Andre Burakovsky put home the rebound from a Samuel Girard shot.
15:48 COL (3-1) - Jacob MacDonald's shot from the left point was tipped by Andre Burakovsky before Brandon Saad cleaned up the rebound.
17:52 COL (4-1) - J.T. Compher tipped a Cale Makar shot to score his fifth goal of the season.
3rd Period
3:35 MIN (4-2) - Nick Bjugstad scored into an empty net after receiving a Ryan Hartman pass on an odd-man rush.
7:22 COL (5-2) - PPG, Gabriel Landeskog finished off a play with crisp passing by puttting home a backdoor pass from Mikko Rantanen.
9:44 MIN (5-3) - PPG, Marcus Johansson's shot bounced off a defenders skate and into the net right before a Minnesota power play was about to expire.
19:25 MIN (5-4) - PPG, Kevin Fiala cut Colorado's lead in half with a goal in a 6-on-4 situation.
Final: Avalanche - 5 | Wild - 4

3 STARS

Selected by Wild media

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 3
Minnesota: 2 for 6

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves on 25 shots.
Minnesota: Cam Talbot allowed five goals on 36 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer improved to 12-0-1 in his last 13 games, setting a new franchise mark for consecutive games with a point. It's the longest streak without a regulation loss by an Avalanche netminder since 2013-14 (Semyon Varlamov, 11-0-5).
It was Grubauer's 100th start with Colorado and his 105th appearance with the Avalanche, the fifth-most games played in Avalanche history (since 1995).

NOTEBOOK

Andre Burakovsky scored for the 10th time this season, the seventh Avalanche player to hit the 10-goal mark. The team is tied with the Florida Panthers for the most 10-goal scorers of any team in the league… Samuel Girard recorded the primary assist on each of Colorado's first two goals. His two helpers in the second period came on consecutive shifts… It was his seventh game with two helpers this year... Liam O'Brien collected his first point with Colorado with an assist on J.T. Compher's second-period tally… Kyle Burroughs made his NHL debut, and he recorded his first career fight against Nick Bjugstad at 10:22 of the third period... Gabriel Landeskog's goal stood as the game-winner, the 36th of his career. It is the fourth most in Avalanche history... Colorado now has at least a point in 15 straight games (13-0-2), the longest point streak in the NHL this season and the second-longest streak in franchise history… The Avs are out-scoring the opposition 67-28 (plus-39) during this streak.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

ROSTER REPORT

Kyle Burroughs made his NHL debut and began the game on a pairing with Jacob MacDonald. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made his 100th start for Colorado. Peyton Jones, Jayson Megna, Keaton Middleton and Greg Pateryn are on the taxi squad.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram skated again on Monday and is progressing as he continues to ramp up his practice time, but he is still out with an upper-body injury. Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Erik Johnson (upper body) are out long term while Logan O'Connor (lower body) will be out weeks with his ailment. Matt Calvert remains off the ice and is still week-to-week with his upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Colorado and Minnesota wrap up their eight-game season series on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center. The Avalanche is 5-1-1 against the Wild this year.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
38 Liam O'Brien - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
34 Jacob MacDonald - 88 Kyle Burroughs
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson