Parise gets 800th NHL point in Wild victory against Avalanche

DENVER -- Zach Parise scored his 800th NHL point with a goal in the second period, and the Minnesota Wild won their fourth straight game, 6-2 against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday.

"Those numbers, round numbers, are nice to hit," said Parise, who has 389 goals and 411 assists in 1,031 NHL games. "Wish I would've been able to get it out of the way earlier in the season. It means I've been playing the game for a while now."
Nico Sturm scored his first two goals of the season; Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman each had a goal and an assist; and Kaapo Kahkonen made 30 saves for Minnesota (10-6-0).
"Some of the saves that he made, in key moments in that hockey game, where they're pushing and he makes a brilliant save and the guys just react on the bench, it's exciting for sure" Wild coach Dean Evason said. "I mean, guys get jacked when we score goals, but it's nice for us to see that the saves and the blocked shots for that matter, the guys are just as excited."

Nazem Kadri and J.T. Compher scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves for Colorado (9-6-1), which has lost two in a row for the first time this season.
"A bit of adversity, I think, is good for us as a group and it's going to be good for us long term," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "Good teams find a way to turn things around pretty quickly, and I have no doubt we'll do that."
Zuccarello gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 9:44 of the first period, scoring short side from along the goal line after receiving a pass from Kirill Kaprizov on a 3-on-1.
Compher tied it 1-1 at 7:21 of the second period when he shot glove side on a rush. Parise put Minnesota in front 2-1 at 12:31 on a redirection of Matt Dumba's shot from the point.
"Zach's been a great teammate," Evason said. "You guys look at the numbers and all that kind of stuff, we look at how the guy conducts himself on and off the ice and around the team. If you're a good teammate and still competing and doing all the right things and not being a distraction for whatever reason, you're going to give yourself an opportunity to have success."

Foligno made it 3-1 with a shorthanded goal at 15:11 of the second with a shot from the high slot after Hartman won a puck battle along the left boards.
"We didn't get some of the saves we've been getting from him, but I didn't hate his game," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of Grubauer. "You look at his game, generally he's going to have one or two of those goals, not that they were weak goals by any means. I'd put it on the breakdowns of our team. Those are easy goals that we're handing out, scoring chances that we're handing out."
Kadri cut it to 3-2 at 3:00 of the third period with a one-timer off a pass from Mikko Rantanen on the power play, and the Wild responded when Hartman scored off a turnaround pass from Kaprizov to make it 4-2 at 11:56.

Sturm then beat Grubauer five-hole on a breakaway at 12:59 to extend the lead to 5-2 before scoring an empty-net goal at 17:32 for the 6-2 final.
"If you had a camera on the bench when [Sturm] scored his goal, it's as excited as our group has been all year," Evason said. "It's nice for a guy like that to get rewarded for sure."
Kahkonen, who made 11 saves in the third period, has allowed six goals during Minnesota's winning streak.
"Winning is all that matters, to be honest," he said. "I don't care about how they come. I've been feeling good about my game. Everybody's been contributing. Throughout the lineup everybody is playing really well. It's great to see."
NOTES: Zuccarello's goal was his 400th point in the NHL (132 goals, 269 assists in 581 games). He has nine points (three goals, six assists) in a four-game point streak. … The line of Kaprizov, Victor Rask and Zuccarello has combined for 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in the past three games. … Minnesota is 10-1-0 when it scores at least three goals. … Kadri's power-play goal was Colorado's first in 20 opportunities.