Postgame Hat Trick: Avalanche 6, Wild 0

On Saturday afternoon, the Wild lost 6-0 against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver.
Wild.com's Dan Myers provides three takeaways in the Postgame Hat Trick, presented by Associated Bank. Learn more on how to score up to $500 by opening a Wild Checking account.

1. A better start, but not good enough.
Minnesota came out of the gates more competitively to start the game on Saturday, but that's not saying much. Colorado had eight shots on goal in the first two minutes on Thursday and led 20-1 at one point in the period that night.
But the bottom line for the Wild is, it wasn't nearly enough for Minnesota to be competitive in the game.

Just like it did Thursday, Colorado went to the first intermission up a pair of goals, and despite a more even 12-10 disparity on the shot chart, the Wild struggled to create scoring chances, especially 5-on-5, which has been the team's bread and butter all season long.
The Avs scored goals 67 seconds apart in the early moments of the second period to dash any hopes of a Wild comeback, and from there Minnesota was simply trying to keep it competitive.
2. Avs top line excels again.
The Wild is far from the first team to have trouble finding was to slow Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, who are one of the top lines in the entire NHL.
The trio combined for 10 points in the Colorado win on Thursday, and they were at it again on Saturday.
Landeskog and MacKinnon assisted on Cale Makar's power-play goal 4:13 into the game that got the Avs off and running, then it was Landeskog from MacKinnon and Makar saven minutes later making it 2-zip.
Rantanen got into the act 46 seconds into the second on a pass from Landeskog, then MacKinnon was credited with the first assist on Devon Toews goal late in the second that made it 5-0.
While that line is hard to slow down just about anywhere, they're especially lethal at home, where Avs coach Jared Bednar can dictate the matchups he wants.
Over the past 48 hours, the Wild simply had no answer.
3. Heck of a streak, kid.
It was an unfortunate end to a historic streak for Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, who saw his personal nine-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday afternoon.

That streak is now the longest for a rookie in Wild history and is the longest by any goaltender in the NHL this season.
Kahkonen and the Wild will attempt to drop this disappointment and rebound back at home starting Monday, as Minnesota begins a three-game homestead that leads into a critical few days of rest. After two games against the Anaheim Ducks and one against the St. Louis Blues - the first time the Wild will see the Blues this season - Minnesota will have three days off ... the first time they've had such a break since returning from its COVID layoff in mid-February.