Rapid Recap: Wild 8, Avalanche 3

The Minnesota Wild won 8-3 against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Kevin Fiala had a hat trick and added an assist for the Wild, while rookie Kirill Kaprizov recorded two goals and a helper. Jared Spurgeon and Victor Rask both finished with three assists.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist for the Avs, and Cale Makar had a multi-point outing as well with two helpers. Andre Burakovsky also scored, while Kyle Burroughs and Jacob MacDonald added apples.

Minnesota led 3-0 at the first intermission and 4-1 at one point in the second period. The Avalanche scored three times in the first 10 minutes of the middle frame to cut its deficit to one at the time, but the Wild responded with four more tallies to close the contest.
The Wild scored a season-high four power-play goals in the game. The Avalanche went 2-for-7 with the man advantage.
The loss ended Colorado's five-game winning streak and 15-game point streak (13-0-2), which was the second longest in franchise history and one short of matching the team record.

THE GOALS

1st Period
4:00 MIN (0-1) - PPG, Kirill Kaprizov tapped in the puck in front after receiving a cross-ice pass.
13:15 MIN (0-2) - Luke Johnson scored with a wrister in the slot during a rush up the ice.
18:38 MIN (0-3) - PPG, Kevin Fiala's shot from the left point went into the far-side top corner of the net.
2nd Period
0:26 COL (1-3) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon got the Avs on the board with a wrister at the left circle.
4:37 MIN (1-4) - Ryan Hartman intercepted the puck in the offensive zone and tallied after his shot went off the goalie's glove and in.
5:17 COL (2-4) - Following a faceoff win in the Wild end, Andre Burakovsky buried a shot off a rebound.
9:42 COL (3-4) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen scored into an open net after the puck caromed directly to him at the right side of the crease.
13:38 MIN (3-5) - PPG, Kirill Kaprizov recorded his second goal of the game with a snap shot in the slot.
3rd Period
4:24 MIN (3-6) - Kevin Fiala scored on a shot that went far-side.
7:18 MIN (3-7) - Joel Eriksson Ek tallied in the slot.
7:56 MIN (3-8) - PPG, Kevin Fiala completed the hat trick with a quick-release wrister from the left circle.
Final: Wild - 8 | Avalanche - 3

3 STARS

Selected by Wild media

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 2 for 7
Minnesota: 4 for 5

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer started and stopped 11 shots. Jonas Johansson played the final 12:42 and faced one shot.
Minnesota: Cam Talbot made 29-of-32 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist to extend his goal streak to four games (five) and point streak to seven outings (five goals, seven assists). He has 25 points (10 goals and 15 assists) in his last 15 contests since March 12.

NOTEBOOK

Cale Makar had two assists to extend his point streak to four contests (one goal and four assists)... Kyle Burroughs recorded an assist to register his first career NHL point… Andre Burakovsky now has four goals and six points (four goals, two assists) in his last five games... Mikko Rantanen (goal and an assist) had his 14th multi-point game of the year… Philipp Grubauer's 13-game streak (12-0-1) with at least a point come to an end. It was the longest streak by a goaltender in franchise history... Colorado finished its season series against Minnesota with a 5-2-1 record and a 2-1-1 mark in St. Paul.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

I'm stuck to you.

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche didn't make any changes to its lineup. Defenseman Kyle Burroughs played in his second career NHL game, while forward Liam O'Brien skated in his fourth outing with the Avs. Philipp Grubauer made his third straight start in the crease. Goaltender Peyton Jones and skaters Jayson Megna, Keaton Middleton and Greg Pateryn are on the taxi squad.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram continues to skate, but the rookie defenseman missed his seventh straight contest with an upper-body injury he suffered on March 25 versus the Vegas Golden Knights. Forwards Matt Calvert (upper body) and Logan O'Connor (lower body) are week-to-week, while goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) and defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) are out long term.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche's four-game road trip continues with a two-game set at the Anaheim Ducks. The teams face off on Friday at 8 p.m. MT before closing the series on Sunday at 4 p.m. MT in a contest that had its game time moved up.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the 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