MacKinnon, Drouin help Avalanche get past Wild, gain ground in Central

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin each had three points for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

Drouin scored twice and had an assist, MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Justus Annunen made 44 saves to help Colorado (48-22-6) move three points behind the first-place Dallas Stars in the Central Division.

"I loved our first period," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "The second period got a little hairy; we took some penalties, spent a lot of time in our zone. They got some life off their power play. All in all, though, I thought 5-on-5 we did a decent job defending, we had a little bit tougher time in the second period closing plays out in the wall. Got some timely scoring in the third. I thought our third was much better than the second, and we were able to come out with a win.

"Whenever you come into a tough building, a team playing really well -- they're 6-2-2 in their last 10 -- and get a solid performance throughout your lineup, you come up with a big win. It's a big win for us. There's no question, going into a back-to-back in Edmonton tomorrow, we need the points. The guys came through and got it done."

Vinni Lettieri and Declan Chisholm scored, and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for Minnesota (36-30-9), which trails the Los Angeles Kings by 10 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Avalanche completed a three-game, season series sweep against the Wild (0-2-1), outscoring them 10-5.

"I thought their goaltender was a big difference in the game," Wild coach John Hynes said. "I thought both goaltenders played well, but I thought their guy made a lot of key saves at key times. We had really good offensive pressure. Lots of good scoring opportunities, high-quality opportunities in really all situations and couldn't find a way to get it in the back in the net."

Artturi Lehkonen put the Avalanche ahead 1-0 at 4:34 of the first period off a rebound after Gustavsson was unable to cover Jack Johnson's shot from the point.

Lettieri answered back for the Wild, tying it 1-1 at 8:05 with a one-timer from the right circle off a behind-the-net pass from Mason Shaw.

"I thought we played well," Minnesota forward Matt Boldy said. "Obviously they're a really good team with some special players and you see that every time. You do what you can but they're good, and it's tough at times but I thought we played well. Just played our game, lot of chances, won battles, played fast. Just have to keep going."

Drouin put Colorado back on top 2-1 with a power-play goal at 12:28, batting in Cale Makar's shot from the blue line. His second goal 43 seconds into the second period increased the lead to 3-1 when he scored with a tip-in at the back door off a MacKinnon shot.

"I felt good this morning, which sometimes doesn't translate," Drouin said. "I thought we were getting good bounces in the neutral zone. [MacKinnon] was flying down the middle quite a bit tonight kind of wide open, so you try to get it to him and let him weave to the middle and make some great plays."

Chisholm pulled the Wild within 3-2 at 10:10 on the power play with a point shot from the left side.

"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," Chisholm said.

MacKinnon scored his 48th goal of the season on a partial breakaway to make it 4-2 at 6:32 of the third.

Mikko Rantanen scored into the empty net at 18:32 for the 5-2 final.

"I think we did really well today, scored five goals and defense defended really well," Annunen said. "So just build up from here."

NOTES: With 82 assists, MacKinnon passed Peter Stastny (81 in 1985-86) for the third-most in a single season in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history. …Rantanen became the sixth player in franchise history with multiple 40-goal seasons, joining Michel Goulet (seven), Joe Sakic (five), Stastny (four), MacKinnon (three) and Milan Hejduk (two). … Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian did not play because of a mid-body injury and is day to day. Alex Goligoski, a healthy scratch for 24 straight games, replaced him and was plus-1 with one shot and one blocked shot in 12:17 total ice time.