Wild 5, Avalanche 4
DENVER -- Left winger Zach Parise scored three goals, two of them in a furious third-period comeback, and the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 5-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
Right winger Nino Niederreiter and left winger Thomas Vanek also scored for the Wild. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk had 19 saves.
The Avalanche led 4-1 after the second period on goals from right wingers Jarome Iginla and Gabriel Landeskog, center John Mitchell and defenseman Erik Johnson.
Minnesota erased that deficit and went ahead in a span of five minutes, seven seconds in the third. Parise got the first goal, Niederreiter made it 4-3 just 1:58 later, and Vanek tied it with a wrister that went by goalie Semyon Varlamov and rattled off both posts.
Landeskog went off for interference 19 seconds after Vanek tied it, and Parise gave the Wild the lead with a power-play goal at 10:14 of the third.
It was his third career hat trick and first with the Wild.
Varlamov (25 saves) went off for an extra attacker in the final two minutes, but the Avalanche were unable to find a tying goal.
Colorado's power play was ranked 29th in the NHL last season, but the poor showing was quickly forgotten.
The Avalanche needed just seven seconds into their first man-advantage of the season to cash in. After defenseman Jonas Brodin went off for holding at 13:33 of the first period, Iginla's one-timer from the left circle beat Dubnyk just inside post to make it 1-0. It was Iginla's 590th career goal.
Colorado made it two straight on the power play later in the period when Johnson's shot from the point beat a screened Dubnyk over the left shoulder at 17:24.
The Avalanche boosted the lead to 3-0 1:31 later when Landeskog stuffed defenseman Francois Beauchemin's pass off the back boards and off a surprised Dubnyk.
Parise made it 3-1 at 6:55 of the second period with a snap shot over Varlamov's left shoulder.
Mitchell restored the three-goal lead just 1:12 later when he tipped in his own rebound off the left post.
NOTES: Avalanche D Brad Stuart and Brandon Gormley were healthy scratches. Coach Patrick Roy said Stuart and Gormley were not among the top six defensemen in the preseason, but he plans to use all eight defensemen during the regular season. C Mikhail Grigorenko was also scratched. ... The Wild are carrying three goaltenders to start the season. Darcy Kuemper served as backup to Devan Dubnyk on Thursday, but Niklas Backstrom will be in the mix, coach Mike Yeo said. "We don't have a long-term plan right now," he said. ... The Avalanche have done away with morning skates when the team practices the day before games. ... D Nate Prosser was the lone skater scratched for the Wild.