In opening its 23rd season against the rival on Thursday night, the Avalanche mostly dominated play in a game that went down to the wire.
The Avs used goals from and to overcome an early deficit and got late empty-net tallies from and to skate out of the with a 4-1 triumph. They outshot the Wild 40-21 and killed off all three Minnesota power plays.
“It’s nice to start the season 1-0,” MacKinnon said. “Ton of shots. We scored when we had to and made some plays.”
Goalie got the win in his 400th career NHL game and the Avs improved to 15-5-3 in home openers.
Rantanen and Soderberg each had a goal and an assist for team-high two-point games.
“The biggest thing is for the team to get two points,” Rantanen, who assisted on MacKinnon’s game-winning goal, said of his two-point game. “There’s still things we can be better at as a line, especially defensively in the neutral zone. But it was a good start and a big two points. It’s good to get things rolling.”
The Avs outshot the Wild 14-5 after the first period and 32-13 after the second. Both teams had two power plays through 40 minutes so Colorado’s shot advantage wasn’t due to excessive time with the man-advantage.
The Avs also had a disallowed goal 1:26 into the third period. Colorado forward punched the puck in the Wild net with what looked like his stick. But video replay showed the puck went in off Wilson’s lower hand as he griping his stick.
Minnesota controlled the first 10 minutes of the third period but the Avalanche ultimately took back the control.
“First and second (periods) we were really good. We were quick, quick with the puck and shooting the puck,” Rantanen said. “In the third, we were a little bit flat, maybe because we had the lead. I thought we should have kept grinding and turning pucks over the neutral zone.”
Minnesota got the game’s first goal 6:14 into the first period. Behind the Colorado goal line, captain Mikko Koivu centered the puck to Zach Parise at the top of the crease and Parise banged it in past Varlamov. The Avs didn’t panic and pulled even at 12:29 when Soderberg used a Wild defenseman as a screen and wristed the puck past goalie Devan Dubnyk.
MacKinnon gave the Avs their first lead of the season at 10:26 of the second period. MacKinnon drove to the net from the back door and tapped in a perfect centering pass from Rantanen, his right winger.
“We made some mistakes,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn’t manage the puck as good as we could of down the stretch. But first period, we had a good shot mentality, we had chances early, we were on the hunt and playing on our toes, creating second chances. Second period, much the same.”
He added: “Overall, there’s a lot of things to like, a lot of things to can review and a lot of things we can build on.”
The Avs’ performance in their first game at home wasn’t surprising, given that they went 28-11-1 at home last season, tying the club record for home wins in a season. The Avs were 18-4-1 in their last 23 home games last season, a run that included a franchise record-tying 10-game winning streak at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado will complete its two-game homestand Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, who played at Las Vegas on Thursday.
