ST. PAUL, MN (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon, Andre Burakovsky, Brandon Saad and J.T. Compher scored in a four-goal second period, and the Colorado Avalanche held off the Minnesota Wild 5-4 on Monday night to extend their league-best points streak to 15 games (13-0-2).
The franchise record is 16 outings with a point from Dec. 27, 2000-Jan. 30, 2001, when the Avalanche went 12-0-3-1 during their Stanley Cup-winning season.
Gabriel Landeskog also scored, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 21 shots for his fourth straight win. At 12-0-1 in his last 13 outings, Grubauer set a franchise record for the longest stretch with a point by a goaltender. Patrick Roy (Oct. 23-Nov. 22, 1996) and Peter Budaj (Feb. 24-March 23, 2007) held the previous record.
Ryan Hartman had a goal and two assists for Minnesota, which had won 11 straight at Xcel Energy Center since losing 5-1 to Colorado Jan. 30. Nick Bjugstad and Marcus Johansson scored in the third period as the Wild tried to rally, and Kevin Fiala scored on a power-play with 35 seconds left, but Minnesota couldn’t get the equalizer.
“We competed our butts off in the third period, but it’s not good enough. It’s not good enough against a team like this. It has to be 60 minutes, can’t be 20, can’t be 40. It has to be 60 minutes,” Wild coach Dean Evason said.
MacKinnon, who has four goals and six assists in his past six games, scored on a breakaway 18 seconds into a dominant middle period, converting a perfect stretch pass from Samuel Girard. Burakovsky buried a rebound of Girard’s shot that Cam Talbot couldn’t hold onto 71 seconds later.
Talbot made 31 saves but lost in regulation for the first time in seven outings.
Saad cross-checked Jared Spurgeon to the ice moments before scoring on a rebound at 15:48, and Compher redirected a shot from Cale Makar a couple minutes later. The Avalanche outshot Minnesota 20-5 in the period.
“We just had a brain fart and thought we were something else in the second period and we weren’t doing what we needed to do to beat that team,” Hartman said. “There’s a certain way to play. We didn’t do that, but in the third period came around and we kind of pushed back and made it hard for them.”
Colorado has outscored Minnesota 16-5 in the last three games, also winning 5-1 and 6-0 at home March 18 and 20.
For the first time this season, the Wild played before more than a handful of friends and family. With 3,000 fans in attendance, a “Let’s Go Wild!” chant began immediately after the opening faceoff.
Evason said it helped because the Wild dominated early before Hartman scored off a feed from Bjugstad 8:40 in. Hartman then did a small wave to the fans before celebrating with his teammates.
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