DENVER (AP) — Yakov Trenin scored against his former team early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday.
Jake Middleton had a goal and an assist, Brock Faber also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for Minnesota.
The game was tied entering the third period but Trenin gave the Wild a 2-1 lead with a wrister in the slot that beat Mackenzie Blackwood at 2:08. Faber scored 1:35 later to make it a two-goal game.
Nathan MacKinnon, the NHL leader in points, had tied the game with 1:08 left in the second with his 18th goal of the season.
Blackwood came off for an extra skater for the last 3:27 but the Avs couldn’t score.
Takeaways
Wild: Without some key players, including captain Jared Spurgeon and leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota played a solid road game after allowing six goals to the Avs in St. Paul on Jan. 9. The Avalanche had only five shots on goal midway through the game and had few scoring opportunities. They improved to an NHL-best 17-5-3 on the road.
Avalanche: Colorado continued to struggle on the power play. They didn’t have a shot on goal with their first opportunity but did generate chances on their second power play. Colorado has just seven goals in its last 59 opportunities.
Key moment
With time running out in the first period, Ryan Hartman backhanded a pass through the slot to David Jiricek, but Blackwood slid over to make a pad save and keep it 1-0 heading into the second period. It was one of several big saves he made.
Key stat
The Avalanche had 11 shots through the first two periods and put 16 on Fleury in the third period.
Up next
The Wild host Utah on Thursday night. The Avalanche wrap up their five-game homestand Wednesday night against Winnipeg.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Michael Kelly, The Associated Press