Avalanche score seven against Wild, win fifth straight

DENVER -- Carl Soderberg scored two power-play goals to help the Colorado Avalanche to their fifth consecutive win, 7-2 against the Minnesota Wild at Pepsi Center on Saturday.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and two assists, and Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves for his fourth straight victory.

WATCH: [All Wild vs. Avalanche highlights]
Gabriel Bourque, Patrik Nemeth and Tyson Jost scored for the Avalanche (22-16-3), who went 5-1-0 on a six-game homestand and matched their 2016-17 wins total in their 41st game.
"That was a playoff environment, we haven't had that in a long time," MacKinnon said. "I think it's a good thing that we stepped up on a big stage. The crowd was excited, and when you needed to step up, everybody did. It was a full team effort. We had a great 60 minutes.
"You can't be comfortable, but you can definitely be proud of ourselves. I mean, no one expected anything out of us this season. We still have 50 percent of the season left, but it's good."

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said the atmosphere surrounding the pregame ceremony to retire Milan Hejduk's No. 23 contributed to the decisive win.
"It was a great look at some of the history of this proud franchise," Bednar said. "Our guys really enjoyed it, and we talked to them about our preparation coming out of that. You see all the fans packed in the building and they're already cheering before the game starts. It gets your emotions up, and our guys came out and they played a passionate, spirited, good affair."
Eric Staal scored two goals for the Wild (22-17-3), who are 4-2-0 in their past six games but have lost four in a row on the road.
"We took a step back today," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We got to learn how to win on the road. That's ridiculous how we can play so good at home and completely opposite on the road."
Colorado took a 1-0 lead on Bourque's first goal of the season at 7:38 of the first period, and Nemeth made it 2-0 at 18:16.
The Wild closed to 2-1 when Staal scored on the rebound of Jonas Brodin's shot with 32.8 seconds left in the first, but the Avalanche were in control the rest of the way.

"It didn't seem like it was going to be a great right from the get-go," said Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who made 26 saves and was replaced by Alex Stalock at 7:17 of the third period after MacKinnon scored the Avalanche's third power-play goal for a 6-2 lead. "We talked about it before the game, it's a fast team. And we didn't want to play into their hands and we played right into their hands in the first period with a lot of turnovers. It got a little out of hand."
Jost scored with 2:14 remaining in the third to make it 7-2.
Soderberg got his second goal of the game when he put in the rebound of a Nail Yakupov shot at 5:13 of the third for a 5-2 lead.
Soderberg scored his first at 8:03 of the second period to give the Avalanche a 3-1 lead when he drove to the net and converted Alex Kerfoot's pass.
"It was a big game for us," Soderberg said. "We have worked hard lately to get in good position, and tonight was a good test for us to play against another divisional team, so we needed this win."
Rantanen made it 4-1 at 16:19, putting in a loose puck from the side of the net. Boudreau challenged for interference against Dubnyk, but the goal was upheld after video review.
Staal scored his second of the game on the power play with 37.6 seconds left in the second, beating Bernier from the slot off a Jason Zucker pass to make it 4-2.

Goal of the game

Nemeth's goal with 1:44 left in the first period.

Save of the game

Bernier stopping Dumba at 3:02 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Soderberg's goal at 5:13 of the third period.

They said it

"To string those five games together, I think that's a statement and obviously tonight, we knew how important this one was going to be. Playing the Wild, we know what those games are going to be like, and this one was fun. It was a lot of fun in the sold-out environment." -- Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog

"That's a throw-away game. It's certainly a game we wanted the points in, but we've been playing good hockey lately, and there's no point in looking anymore into that game than what it was." -- Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk

Need to know

MacKinnon has three goals and nine assists in a five-game point streak. ... Rantanen has three goals and five assists in a three-game point streak. ... The Avalanche's seven goals matched a season high (Dec. 9 at the Florida Panthers). They have scored six or more goals seven times. ... Staal has four goals in his past three games.

What's next

Wild: Host the Calgary Flames on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNW, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: At the Dallas Stars on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; FS-SW, ALT2, NHL.TV)