Wild 6, Avalanche 4
Wild 6, Avalanche 4: Devin Setoguchi scored twice and added an assist as visiting Minnesota benefited from a season-high four first-period goals to sweep its home-and-home series with Colorado.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard and defenseman Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist apiece for the Wild, who won for the fourth time in five games and improved to 3-0-1 against the Avalanche. Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck also scored and Niklas Backstrom made 28 saves.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 10 of 14 shots in the first period and Semyon Varlamov stopped 12 of 14 in the final 40 minutes. Captain Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist while PA Parenteau, John Mitchell and Chuck Kobasew also scored for Colorado, which has allowed 15 goals on a three-game losing skid.
Suter opened the scoring on a power play 4:16 into the game, Setoguchi made it 2-0 just 1:44 later and Clutterbuck extended the lead 3:04 after that. Mitchell got the Avalanche on the board before Brodziak closed the period by restoring Minnesota’s three-goal advantage.
Matt Duchene set up second-period goals by Parenteau and Landeskog to pull Colorado within one before Bouchard’s backhand shot eluded Varlamov 12:02 into the session and Setoguchi scored his second of the game - and fourth in the last three - midway through the third on a nice feed from Bouchard. Kobasew cut into the lead with under two minutes remaining, but it wasn’t enough.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Setoguchi’s assist was the 100th of his career. Wild RW Dany Heatley had two assists to reach 400 in his career. … Colorado veteran Milan Hejduk was a healthy scratch one game after returning from a torso injury. … The Avalanche fell to 4-7-0 against Northwest Division opponents.