Mitchell’s OT winner carries Avalanche
Colorado’s six-game losing streak against Wild comes to end
DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche, with the help of a little magic from their former stars, finally got past the Minnesota Wild.
CenterJohnMitchellscoredat 3:35 of overtime, and Colorado beat Minnesota 2-1 Monday night.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves, and defenseman Tyson Barrie had a goal and an assist for Colorado, which beat the Wild for the first time in three tries this season after a back-and-forth overtime.
“It’s not fun for the goalie,” Varlamov said of the 3-on-3 extra period. “Maybe it’s more fun for the forwards because they’re creating so many chances. The fans love it, and this game is for the fans. They love to watch scoring chances, they like to watch when the goalies make a big save.”
The Wild have dominated the Avalanche since rallying to beat Colorado in a first-round playoff series in 2014. Before Monday,Minnesotawas6-0-0 against Colorado with four shutouts since the start of the 2014-15 season.
That finally changed in front of members of the 20th anniversary team that helped the franchise win Stanley Cup titles in1996and2001.The16former players were introduced before the game, with the biggest cheers going to Peter Forsberg, Ray Bourque and current coach Patrick Roy.
Mitchell made it a celebration with his sixth of the season. He produced the winner after taking a pass from center Matt Ducheneandskatingtotheright circle. His shot rattled off the post to beat goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his sixth goal of the season.
“It feels really good,” Mitchell said. “They’ve had our number here for a little while now.”
The mounting losses became a source of frustration for the Avalanche.
“This is a team, we hate (the Wild), to behonest,” Barrie said. “It’s a rivalry for us, and they’ve had our number over the last season and a half. This is a big win for us.”
Kuemper recorded 18 saves, and left winger Zach Parise had a goal for Minnesota, which had won three in a row.
The teams met Saturday in St. Paul, Minn., and the Wild won 3-0, outshooting the Avalanche 44-20. Kuemper made nine saves in relief of Devan Dubnyk, who sustained a groin strain when the game was still scoreless. He is expected back late this week.
Colorado limited the shots in the rematch and took a 1-0 lead early in the second period when Barrie put in a cross-ice passfromcenterCarl Soderberg at 4:13.
Barrie’s goal was the first for the Avalanche against Kuemper in his four career games facing Colorado. It was also the first goal allowed by the Wild in the last 178:52 of play.
“It was a great pass by Carl on that goal,” Barrie said. “I just had to go to the net and stop, and it literally hit my stick and I had the whole net, so it was a great play by Carl.”
Minnesotastruggled to create scoring chances but finally tied it when Parise banged in a rebound at 13:51 of the third period. It was his eighth of the season and first since Oct. 25.
“He made a good save on me on that first whack, and the rebound luckily stayed right there,” Parise said. “So I was able to get the second by him.”
The teams had great chances in overtime. Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter came in alone on Varlamov, but the goalie got his right arm on the shot to keep it tied.
The Wild are now 1-5 in overtime games this season.
“This can’t continue,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “It’s frustrating. You get a couple of really good looks there, that’s frustrating, but we’ve got to find a way to make sure they don’t get one.”
Predators 3, Bruins 2 — At Boston, Viktor Arvidsson, playing in his fifth game back from the minor leagues, scored on a solo rush with 4:56 left to give Nashville a victory over Boston. The win was only the third in the last 10 games for the Predators, their second in their last seven road games. The Bruins lost in regulation for the first time in nine games and saw their five-game, head-to-head home winning streak against Nashville snapped.Roman Josi scored two power play goals for Nashville, tying the game at 1-1 and 2-2.
Canucks 5, Sabres 2 — At Vancouver, British Columbia,Radim Vrbata scored three goals asthe Canucksbeat Buffalo to snap a five-game losing streak.Henrik Sedin, on the power play, and Brandon Prust, with his first goal as a Canuck, also scored for Vancouver. Daniel Sedin had two assists. Brian Gionta and Sam Reinhart scored for Buffalo. The Sabres are 1-2-1 in their past four games.