Postgame Hat Trick: Avalanche 3, Wild 1

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Tuesday night:

1. The Wild couldn't find a way to solve Phillip Grubauer when it needed to.
It had chances too.
Perhaps its finest opportunity came late in the third period with Colorado leading by a goal when Victor Rask found Pontus Aberg all alone in front for a quick one timer, but Grubauer read the pass perfectly and stretched to get a piece with the left pad.
Grubauer stopped 36 shots to earn the victory.
The victory by Colorado moved the Avs to within one point of the Wild in the standings and prevented Minnesota from moving ahead of Arizona and into the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
While Minnesota didn't play poorly on Tuesday, if it narrowly misses out on a postseason berth, a 1-3-1 homestand in early to mid-March would be a prime reason. The Wild wasn't able to take advantage of a season-long five-game homestand and will now have to make it up on the road, where it has had plenty of success this season.
Five of the final eight games this season will come away from Xcel Energy Center.
2. Minnesota's power play was a factor again on Tuesday.
After scoring twice in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Islanders on Sunday, the Wild scored with the man advantage for the fourth consecutive game when Zach Parise deflected a Ryan Suter point shot less than two minutes into the second period, tying the game at 1-1.

The goal was Parise's 26th of the season, his most since he scored 33 in 2014-15. With eight games remaining, can Parise score four goals and reach 30 for the seventh time in his career? Of his 26 goals, 10 have come on the power play, a number which leads the club.
Suter's assist was his 39th of the season, leaving him one shy of reaching 40 helpers for the second-straight year and for the third time in the past four seasons.
3. Devan Dubnyk gave the Wild a chance.
The Wild goaltender was beaten on a laser of a shot by Tyson Barrie in the first period but was perfectly screened on the play by Mikko Rantanen.
In the second, Tyson Jost took advantage of a breakaway.
That's it. Other than that, Dubnyk kept the Wild within one goal and one shot all night, making 35 saves in all. Dubnyk was also a big reason the Wild's penalty kill was successful in each of its three kills.
Colorado scored an empty-net goal late to provide the final margin.