If the visitors locker room at Xcel Energy Center looks spotless after the Colorado Avalanche leave town, that just means these Minnesota Wild division rivals cleaned up there — and on the ice.
On Thursday, Jonathan Drouin scored a pair of goals for Colorado as the Avalanche clinched their season series with the Wild, winning 5-2 in their final head-to-head meeting of 2023-24.
Minnesota got goals from Vinni Lettieri and Declan Chisholm but not enough of anything else, falling to 36-30-9 and a step closer to mathematical elimination from the playoffs.
“I thought our guys played hard and battled back and the game was right in the balance. Again, we had opportunities to probably increase the lead, tie, increase the lead, we weren’t able to do that,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “But it wasn’t from a lack of opportunities or lack of effort. I don’t want to say lack of effort. I don’t think we really ever have a lack of effort.”
The loss came despite 31 saves from Filip Gustavsson and a quartet of Avalanche penalties in the second period that gave the Wild power play some exciting opportunities.
The Avalanche (48-22-6), who have clinched a playoff spot and are battling for home ice, got 44 saves from Justus Annunen and won for the second time in their past three games.
“They’re a big rival of ours,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar admitted. “I think there’s some hatred between the fans, for sure, and I think the guys understand that. We were able to do a nice job against them this year, which is good. We’ll take it.”
Colorado took an early lead courtesy of a shot from the point and a rebound produced when Gustavsson tried and failed to glove the puck. That allowed Artturi Lehkonen’s putback, but Minnesota had an answer before the first period was halfway done.
Lettieri posted his second goal in as many games, catching a pass from Mason Shaw, who was below the goal line, and ripping a rising shot from the right circle that caught the upper left corner of the net.
The cheers turned to boos a few minutes later, as Kirill Kaprizov went to the penalty box for tripping, and Colorado needed eight seconds of man advantage to retake the lead.
Trailing 3-1 near the midway point of the game, Minnesota’s extended power play made it a one-goal game again when Chisholm’s long-range shot from the blue line got through a crowd in front of Annunen.
“Power play’s been doing a lot of good things lately, just pucks haven’t been going in, so it was nice to see that one go in,” said Chisholm after his second goal of the season. Beyond that, he admitted that Colorado was maybe more than the Wild could handle. “They just don’t stop. They’re all very good skaters and they’re just consistent on the forecheck. They’re coming and they don’t stop. So any turnover is going to be a pretty good chance and they’re going hard to the net.”
After Minnesota made an early push in the third period, Nathan MacKinnon’s team-leading 48th goal of the season created some distance, and Mikko Rantanen’s empty-net goal with 88 seconds left triggered a de facto evacuation of the building.
While Hynes thought the Avalanche goalie was the difference-maker, Colorado’s coach was disappointed with some of what he saw in his net.
“I thought he had a slow start,” Bednar said. “I didn’t like the first goal, I didn’t love the second goal even though it was power play at the end of it. He got caught looking the wrong way, crouching down. Then from that point on I thought he was exceptional.”
The Wild fell to 8-12-3 versus Central Division foes. And with their playoff hopes dwindling, first-year coach Hynes said there is much to learn about his team in the way they face the next two weeks before the regular-season finale.
“We have to make sure we continue to play. You want to win games. That’s the NHL. That’s the objective of it, and it doesn’t change,” Hynes said. “Lots of times the true colors come out to me. When things are going well, everything’s good. But when you’re in the foxhole together and the bullets are flying and you gotta pull out of adversity and you gotta band together, especially for me coming in now, seeing now we’re in an adverse situation, what’s our response going to be as a team. I think these are the times that it does test your culture.”
The Wild will host Winnipeg on Saturday. The Jets clinched a playoff spot with a home win versus Calgary on Thursday evening.
Briefly
The Wild were without defenseman Zach Bogosian, who was scratched with an undisclosed injury. It was the eighth game he has missed due to injury this season. … Colorado forward Brandon Duhaime got a nice ovation from the audience when he was recognized during the first media timeout. Duhaime played nearly 200 games for the Wild before a trade to Colorado last month.
