Jonathan Drouin scored two goals and dished one assist, and the Colorado Avalanche pulled away for a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Nathan MacKinnon also posted a three-point night with one goal and two assists for Colorado (48-22-6, 102 points). Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen added one goal apiece for the Avalanche.
Vinni Lettieri and Declan Chisholm each scored one goal for Minnesota (36-30-9, 81 points).
Avalanche goaltender Justus Annunen stopped 44 of 46 shots to earn the victory.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson turned aside 31 of 35 shots in the loss.
Colorado opened the scoring 4:34 into the first period. Gustavsson stopped a long shot from Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson, but Lehkonen collected the rebound and buried a shot into the net for his 14th goal of the season.
The Wild pulled even at 1-1 with 11:55 left in the first period. Lettieri ripped a one-timer from the right circle for his fifth goal of the season and his second in as many games.
Colorado made it 2-1 on the power play with 7:32 to go in the first period. Drouin parked near the right side of the crease and batted a loose puck out of midair and into the net.
Drouin struck again to increase Colorado’s lead to 3-1 in the first minute of the third period. He redirected a hard pass from MacKinnon into the net for his second goal of the game and his 17th of the season.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 3-2 with 9:50 left in the second period. Chisholm, 24, notched the second goal of his career and his first on the power play.
The Avalanche increased their lead to 4-2 with 13:28 to play in the third period. MacKinnon notched his 48th goal on a two-on-one rush.
With his three points, MacKinnon increased his career-best offensive season to 130 points (48 goals, 82 assists) in 76 games.
Rantanen finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:28 remaining. It was his 40th goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
