Rantanen scores four points, Avalanche take 55 shots in win against Wild

DENVER -- Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena on Thursday.

"Tonight was a pretty good night," Rantanen said. "We were snapping the puck, and that's what we have to do, move the puck a lot and get it to the net. My linemates (Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog) obviously help a lot. I'm playing with two great players, so that's the first thing you need to remember."
MacKinnon and Landeskog each had a goal and two assists for the Avalanche (18-8-2), who have won five straight games. Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves.
Colorado had 55 shots on goal, two short of its record, set against the San Jose Sharks on March 3, 1996.
"They were really good," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "They put a lot of heat on us, and we didn't handle it very well. For whatever reason, we didn't have our legs, didn't have our energy, didn't have the pace that we have normally. Maybe it's because we were stuck in our zone early. Clearly, the shot totals dictated that."
Victor Rask scored, and Cam Talbot made 50 saves for the Wild (18-9-1), who had won five straight.
"There's obviously things in a game like that you're going to have to address, but for the most part that's a game that you just have to flush and move on," Talbot said. "You have to have short-term memory after a game like that."

MacKinnon made it 1-0 at 11:10 of the first period when he moved around forward Ryan Hartman into the slot. His shot was tipped by defenseman Matt Dumba past Talbot's glove.
"The start tonight was going to be real important," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "[Minnesota] is a strong starting hockey team. They were 10-1 in their last 30 days when they score first, and I believe we were 9-1, so that first goal was an important one. I thought our guys came out hungry and skating and in attack mode trying to get it. It was a real nice all-around effort. Guys were playing hard on both sides of the puck."
Rantanen made it 2-0 at 19:02, redirecting Samuel Girard's pass from the left face-off circle.
Rask cut it to 2-1 at 8:41 of the second period on a power play, shooting glove side from the left circle.
Landeskog scored a power-play goal after a pass from Rantanen to give the Avalanche a 3-1 lead at 15:07.
Joonas Donskoi made it 4-1 at 1:57 of the third period when he scored on a breakaway.
Rantanen put Colorado up 5-1 at 6:30. He knocked the puck out of the air, skated past Nico Sturm, and scored short side with a backhand.
"He's been special for a long time," MacKinnon said of Rantanen. "Mikko is an amazing player and he has been for a long time, and I'm glad people are finally starting to watch him."

The Avalanche moved one point ahead of the Wild for second place in the Honda West Division heading into the second of their two-game set here Saturday.
"We wanted to leapfrog them," MacKinnon said. "They can leapfrog us Saturday, so we need to bring our desperation again. Our division's very tight, and we're trying to separate ourselves. We're getting healthy finally, and hopefully in the second half of the year we'll get lots of wins."
Wild defenseman Ian Cole played three seasons with the Avalanche and recalled how difficult it was to go against the MacKinnon line in practice before he was traded Jan. 19 for defenseman Greg Pateryn.
"They're great hockey players," he said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about that. All three of them are elite players, have great chemistry and are great individual players. We have to move past this, move on. There's no use dwelling on it. That being said, I think we have to take a look as to why that happened. We were not good enough and we have to figure out why."
NOTES:Dumba left at 13:00 of the second period after falling and crashing into the boards. He couldn't put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice. Evason didn't have an update but said, "It doesn't look good." … Avalanche defensemen Cale Makar and Bowen Byram each returned from an upper-body injury. Makar, who missed 10 games, was plus-1 with six shots on goal in 19:13. Byram, who missed nine games, was plus-1 in 15:58. … Rantanen has four goals and five assists during a four-game point streak. … MacKinnon has scored in four straight games, and he moved past Dale Hunter into seventh place in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history with 324 assists. … Landeskog has a goal and four assists during a four-game point streak. … The Colorado Department of Health and Environment approved allowing 4,050 fans to attend Avalanche games beginning April 2 against the St. Louis Blues.