With a little over a minute left in the second period, Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon made the Wild look silly when he deked Trenin and tied the game with his 18th goal of the season. It came on just the Avalanche's 11th shot on goal in two periods.

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. 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.

Some of the issues that looked fixed two days ago in a decisive win against the Dallas Stars were again troubling for the Colorado Avalanche in a loss to the Minnesota Wild.

After a bad loss to Nashville on Saturday, the Wild bounced back with a smart, structured game plan against the rival Avalanche.

With a big two points on the line, the Avalanche came out flat in each period and had one of their worst low-event offensive games of the season.

Without Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota played a smart, poised and gutsy game, pulling away in the third for a 3-1 victory at Ball Arena.

Mackenzie Blackwood was outstanding and Nathan MacKinnon had a brilliant goal, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.