THE SCORING:
1st Period:
0:58 - MIN 1, COL 0 -Jordan Greenway provided the game's icebreaker as he tucked his shot short side of Pavel Francouz to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Nick Folgino picked up the sole assist.
4:12 - MIN 2, COL 0 -Tyson Jost doubled Minnesota's lead as he scored against his former club as he buried a feed from Kirill Kaprizov who had circled through the zone and around the net. Jon Merill also tallied an assist.
2nd Period:
3:46 - MIN 3, COL 0 -Kirill Kaprizov extended the Wild's lead 3-0 as he jammed in a loose puck as a netfront scrum broke out. Ryan Hartman and Jared Spurgeon collected assists.
5:38 - MIN 3, COL 1 -Nazem Kadri wired his shot past Marc-Andre Fleury to put Colorado on the board and trimmed the Avalanche's deficit down 3-1. Mikko Rantanen recorded an assist.
3rd Period:
19:28 - MIN 4, COL 1, ENG - Jordan Greenway scored on the empty net to give the Wild a 4-1 lead. Jacob Middleton tallied an assist.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
The Avalanche were 0-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
GOALTENDING BATTLE:
Pavel Francouz made 18 saves on 21 shots for the Avalanche.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves on 28 shots for the Wild.
NOTEBOOK:
Francouz made his 18th start of the season and his record fell to 15-5-1… Nazem Kadri scored his 28th goal of the season… Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews, Valeri Nichushkin and Darcy Kuemper did not play…
NEXT GAME:
The Avalanche will have their First-Round opponent finalized by tomorrow morning as the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs officially begin on May 2. After having clinched the top seed in the Western Conference, the Avs will have home-ice advantage regardless of who the opponent is.
