Compher Helps Avs Defeat Wild In Minnesota

Rookie forward J.T. Compher showcased his offensive abilities with a two-goal outing on Tuesday to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
"It was nice to contribute tonight. It's been a little bit since I was had been able to get on the scoreboard," said Compher. "The first one, great play by [David Warsofsky] to get me the puck and both my linemates were driving to the net kind of threw the goalie off. And, we have talked about the power play, getting pucks to the net and bodies to the net, and the second one was just a result of that."

It was Compher's first career multi-goal game and the third time this season he has recorded two points in an outing. His second tally of the contest came on the power play, as he was on his knees in the slot and was able to find a rebound from Samuel Girard's shot from the point and sent the puck past Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

The tally marked the eighth straight game that the Avs have scored a power-play goal, the first time they have recorded a man-advantage marker in eight consecutive outings since Jan 14-31, 2006.
Colorado finished the night 2-for-3 on the power play, with all three opportunities coming in the third period.
"I think that was a real good road game for us. We did a lot of good things throughout the game," said Compher. "We didn't have a power play until the end, but we stuck with it and had some huge kills on some of theirs and we were able to take advantage late."
The Avalanche has the third-best penalty kill in the NHL and did not allow a power-play goal on four chances for Minnesota. The Wild had its first opportunity early in the game, and recorded three shots on goal with the man advantage but was denied each time by Colorado.
"They got that one power play and they had a bunch of chances on it and they started getting some life on that, but Varly was really good in the first period keeping us in it," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "We were a little opportunistic, but we had some guys make some nice plays and we just stuck with it."
Avs goaltender Semyon Varlamov was outstanding in net, making 33 saves and denying all six shots he faced while Minnesota was on the power play.

"Special teams are always huge. It was something last year we really struggled with so it's been a good turn around this year," said Tyson Barrie. "The PK has been great all year and the power play has been up and down, but it's been good lately at collecting big goals."
Barrie assisted on Colorado's second power-play goal of the night to extend his point streak to seven games, setting a new career high. His previous best stretch was six games, which was set earlier this season from Oct. 11-24.

PLAYOFF PUSH

The Avalanche has collected at least a point in eight straight games, improving to 5-0-3 in that time.
"We know every night we are talking about how big this game is and we are going to go into the next game talking about how big that one is, and they just keep getting bigger and bigger here at the end of the season," said Bednar. "To be able to carve out points, especially on the road, I think is real important. And our guys are coming together as a group, and we like what we are seeing so hopefully we keep this thing rolling."
Coming into Tuesday's contest, the Avalanche held the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. With the win, the club jumped into a tie with the Dallas Stars at 82 points for the first wild-card position and hold the first three tiebreakers.
The Avs trail Minnesota for the third place in the Central Division and a guaranteed playoff spot by three points and has a game in hand on the Wild and the Stars.
Colorado faces the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, a team that is also fighting for its playoff life.
"We got a day off here tomorrow, we are going to regroup," said Barrie. "St. Louis is another building that hasn't been great to us, it's been tough to win in and we got to find a way to do it. So, we will be just as excited and ready to go for that one."

ZADOROV'S GAME-WINNING GOAL

In the second period, the Wild briefly tied the game at 1-1 with a 4-on-4 goal. But less than a minute later, Nikita Zadorov found the back of the net and gave Colorado a lead the team would not surrender.
The marker was the eventual game-winning goal, the first Zadorov has registered with the Avalanche and the second of his career. His previous game-winner was with the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 13, 2014 versus the Florida Panthers.

"He has been playing some real good hockey here," Bednar said of Zadorov. "He is chipping in offensively, he has been physical. He has played some big minutes with some tight matchups against other team's best guys, and him and Tyson [Barrie] have done a real nice job since Erik Johnson has been out."
Zadorov had previously set a single-season career high for points, which is now at 19 (seven goals, 12 assists) after 64 games this campaign.

OTHER NOTABLES

With the win, Colorado finished its four-game season series against the Wild with a 3-0-1 record, including wins in each of the last three matchups.
Nathan MacKinnon's third-period goal extended his point streak to nine games (eight goals, nine assists), tying a season high that was set Dec. 29 to Jan. 20.
MacKinnon finished the season series against the Wild with nine points (four goals, five assists) in four games, the most points by any player in the series this year.
Blake Comeau picked up a point for the third straight game and has one goal and three assists in his last three outings. The forward matched his season-long streak, as he registered one goal and three assists in three contests from Jan. 13 to 18.
Warsofsky recorded an assist for the second consecutive game after recording his first point with the Avalanche on Saturday versus the Arizona Coyotes. It is the first time in his NHL career that he has picked up points in back-to back outings. Warsofsky's two points in eight NHL games this campaign ties his career high for scoring in a single season.
Tyson Jost scored in back-to-back games, the second time in his career that he has accomplished the feat as he also did it earlier this season (Feb. 18-20).
In its last 11 outings, Colorado is 14-for-41 (34.1 percent) while on the power play.