Postgame Hat Trick: Avalanche 2, Wild 1

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 2-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday night:

1. Game 3 goes to the Avs.
After splitting the two games in St. Paul over the weekend, these two longtime rivals have now played three times in four nights, with the schedule shifting west to Denver.
Colorado jumped out to a 2-nothing lead in this one and that was enough. Kirill Kaprizov scored a power-play goal late in period two and the Wild had several chances to tie in the third period, but just didn't have the horsepower to finish the comeback.
Goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 29 of 31 shots in defeat, his second tough-luck loss of the season.
2. The Wild scored on the power play to get on the board.
Minnesota entered the night ranked 31st in the NHL with the man advantage, a number that, needless to say, needs to improve.
Well, it took a step in the right direction late in the second period on Tuesday when Gerry Mayhew won a puck battle in the corner and got it to Zach Parise behind the net. He made a nice move, then threaded a pass to Kaprizov in front of the net for a quick one-timer past Philipp Grubauer to cut the lead in half.
For the Wild, it was just the third power-play goal of the season and the first since Jan. 24 against San Jose.

The power-play goal for Minnesota snapped a six-game run of perfection for Colorado's penalty kill, which began the night ranked No. 1 in the NHL.
The assist for Mayhew was his first in the NHL.
3. Jared Spurgeon didn't play the third period.
The Wild cannot afford any more injuries to key players, but may have to weather yet another one after its captain did not appear at the beginning of the third period.
Minnesota is already without Matt Dumba, Marcus Johansson and Marcus Foligno, and must now wait and see on Spurgeon as well.