Wild pull away from Avalanche in 3rd to end 3-game skid 

DENVER -- Yakov Trenin and Brock Faber scored 1:35 apart in the third period for the Minnesota Wild, who pulled away from the Colorado Avalanche for a 3-1 win at Ball Arena on Monday.

“We wanted to come into this game and we wanted to be more of an attacking team,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I think sometimes when you play the [Nathan] MacKinnons and [Mikko] Rantanens and [Cale] Makars on this team, you come into the game and you're thinking defend, defend, defend. And I think the best defense is a good offense. And going into third period, it was time where we started to try to take a game over as opposed to trying to see where it went.”

Jake Middleton had a goal and an assist, and Liam Ohgren had two assists for the Wild (28-15-4), who had lost three straight games. Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves.

“We know they're a good team, obviously, and a big challenge for us, but I thought we played so well,” Fleury said. “We controlled the puck. We didn't just give it away. Played smart. I feel we didn't give them much.”

Nathan MacKinnon scored to extend his home point streak to 11 games (six goals, 12 assists) for the Avalanche (28-19-1), who have lost three of their past five. Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves.

“It's a big game, right? We have an opportunity to go past ‘Minny’ tonight with a win. So, we know it's a big game,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar, whose team is now three points behind the Wild in the Pacific Division having played one more game. “I didn't think we gave up a lot of chances, but we didn't get any chances either, and they scored on all their chances, and that was on us.

“We're at the point of the year now where you can't make those mistakes and survive them all the time unless your goalie's bailing you out all the time. And he did his part.”

Trenin gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 2:08 of the third period with a snap shot from between the circles off a pass from David Jiricek.

“Now, I already don't remember how shift was developed, but I remember 'Jiri' made a big play on the wall,” Trenin said. “Set me up for a good shot, and I think goalie didn't see the shooting lane.”

Faber extended the lead to 3-1 at 3:43, taking a drop pass from Ryan Hartman as he entered the offensive zone and beating Blackwood with a snap shot from the high slot.

“A lot of goals are scored from the slot,” Faber said. “We came in here confident in between the second and the third. If we play, keep playing, keep going in the right direction, I think we're going to get some and it'll frustrate them. So, it was exactly what we did. We came out hot and hung on from there.”

Middleton put Minnesota ahead 1-0 at 12:15 of the first period when his wrist shot from inside the blue line found its way through traffic.

MacKinnon tied it 1-1 at 18:52 of the second period. He took a return pass from Samuel Girard in the high slot, deked around Trenin and scored with a snap shot past the glove of Fleury.

“I don't think it ever felt like the game was out of reach. Obviously, we give up a couple good grade-A scoring chances and they score at the beginning of the third, and that's how it goes,” Cale Makar said. “We just got to find ways to capitalize. Up until the last 10 minutes tonight, there wasn't much urgency throughout, consistently at least, the first couple periods. And we got to make sure we find that early and play the whole game like that. It's hard, but that's what you got to do to win.”

NOTES: Fleury tied Martin Brodeur for the most 10-win seasons in NHL history (20).