The short-handed Minnesota Wild fought for a while, but their excess of injuries ultimately proved too much to overcome in a 6-1 blowout loss to the Colorado Avalanche Thursday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Wild were without Kirill Kaprizov, Jakub Lauko, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber, all sidelined due to injuries. As a result, the Avalanche (26-16-1) jumped out to a two-goal advantage in the first period, getting goals from Logan O'Connor 3 minutes, 46 seconds into the period and from Ross Colton 16:52 into the frame.
The Wild (26-12-4) were able to make it a one-goal game entering the second period, getting a goal from Zach Bogosian with 1 minute, 33 seconds remaining in the first.
But the Avs pushed the lead back to two goals as Mikko Rantanen scored 13 minutes into the second period. Then they took a commanding three-goal lead when Parker Kelly scored 4:23 into the third period. The Wild had a couple chances to make it a game, nearly scoring on a power play with 14 minutes left, but coming up empty.
Instead, the Avs came back and got a short-handed goal from Artturi Lehkonen at 7:42. That was the back breaker that put the game entirely out of reach for the Wild.
Nathan MacKinnon scored 1 minute, 4 seconds later to add on to the blowout.
It was the second straight rough game for goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who gave up the six goals on 27 shots. Gustavsson was pulled for Marc-Andre Fleury in Tuesday night's game against the St. Louis Blues, but Fleury was questionable Thursday due to illness, making it Gustavsson's game to finish. It ended up getting rough in the third.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced for the Avs.
The Wild return to action Saturday night when they visit the San Jose Sharks for a 9 p.m. puck drop. They'll hopefully be a little healthier for that late-night matchup.
