Wild 4, Avalanche 0
DENVER -- Zach Parise scored twice, Devan Dubnyk had 29 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 on Saturday to grab control of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist and Jordan Schroeder also scored for Wild.
Minnesota has 85 points to lead Colorado by five for the second wild card. The Wild (37-28-11) have six games remaining and the Avalanche seven.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots for Colorado, which has dropped two in a row and is in danger of missing the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons.
The Avalanche played their third straight game without Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, the team's top scorers, because of knee injuries. Duchene has missed four games.
If Colorado (38-33-4) can't catch the Wild it can look back to the season series against the Central Division rival. Minnesota went 4-0-1 against the Avalanche, and set the tone on opening night by rallying from a three-goal deficit in the third period to beat them in regulation.
The Avalanche got back in the playoff race when Minnesota went 1-11-2 in January and early February, but since interim head coach John Torchetti took over on Feb. 15 the Wild are 14-6-1 and have won a season-high five in a row.
Minnesota started Saturday's rout when Parise stole a pass at Colorado's blue line and gave it to Granlund, who sent it back to Parise for an easy goal at 11:27 of the second.
The Wild made it 2-0 in the final minute of the second when Schroeder chipped Marco Scandella's pass over Varlamov's shoulder for his second goal of the season.
Parise's 24th goal of the season and fifth in the last two games gave the Wild a 3-0 lead at 4:55 of the third.
Varlamov briefly came off for an extra skater with the Avalanche on the power play with 9:04 left, but Granlund scored into an empty net 10 seconds into the man advantage.
NOTES: Colorado coach Patrick Roy said he would update the status of centers Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene, who are out because of knee injuries. Duchene, who leads the team with 56 points, has missed four games and MacKinnon, second in scoring with 52 points, has missed three. ... G Devan Dubnyk played in his 100th game with the Wild. He was acquired from Arizona for a third-round pick on Jan. 14, 2015. ... Avalanche RW Mikko Rantanen played in his ninth game Saturday. If he plays in one more game this regular season, he will burn a year of his three-year entry-level contract. ... Minnesota has 12 players with 10 or more goals, tops in the NHL.