In St Paul,a frenetic second period was the highlight of the game between the Minnesota Wild and the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.
Five goals were scored in the frame with the Avs getting the better of the outburst and won, 3-2.
Gabriel Landeskog had a goal for the Avalanche in St Paul – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Pavel Francouz made 34 saves to backstop the win.
“It was gutsy effort, hard-fought game,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I think they had a little bit more jump in their legs tonight; you know, us coming in on the back to back, they played hard. … We get an even-strength goal, power-play goal, shorthanded goal, had to kill some big penalties. … Pretty good effort by our guys.
“Execution was not where it needs to be, but I thought [Francouz] was really good in goal when we needed him.”
Jared Spurgeon and Kevin Fiala struck for the Wild.
“That one hurt for sure, and it’s a division game too,” Fiala said. “We have to move forward. … I think it’s the will. We know where we are. We don’t need motivation, that’s for sure. I think the way we’ve been playing this week, we can beat anybody. We just have to do it every game.
“There’s still a lot of games left. We still believe.”
Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for the Avs.
“To take 4-1 on this road trip, especially this one against a division opponent, these are always important,” Landeskog said. “[I’m] happy with the way we’re playing right now.”
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Wild highlights]
Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves in the loss.
“It was a playoff hockey game, like all of them are going to be from this stage on. We came up short,” Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau said after the tight loss.
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