The Colorado Avalanche took the battle to the Twin Cities and beat the Minnesota Wild in a nice 5–1 win on Sunday afternoon. After dropping a road game in Minnesota last month, the Avs got their revenge this time around.

This was a big game for both teams and a measuring stick for Minnesota. The Avalanche took their measuring stick and snapped it in half with a pretty dominant effort against the team on the second leg of a back-to-back.

View From the Mountaintop

Of course, a ton of conversation coming into this game was about the battle between Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. The latter of the two showed why he’s the reigning Norris Trophy winner. He scored a power-play goal – more on that later – and outscored his counterpart 3–0. This first Central Division battle between two elite defenders wasn’t even close, and Makar showed his superiority.

Another battle roared between the netminders, Jesper Wallstedt and Mackenzie Blackwood. Wallstedt beat this Avs team a month ago and talked the talk after the win. On Sunday, Blackwood walked the walk. He was excellent with a 28-save performance. Wallstedt, however, prevented Colorado from scoring even more than they did, as they peppered him with 42 shots.

Maybe, just maybe, the Avalanche power play has figured things out. They went 2–for–4 on the man advantage, with goals from the aforementioned Makar and Nathan MacKinnon. In the last few games, the puck movement had been there, but the chances hadn’t been falling. Finally, they did on Sunday evening. There was also a big moment when Gavin Brindley drew a double-minor in front, which allowed one of those goals to go in. Puck movement at even-strength was great too, leading to the opening goal by Martin Necas and the last goal for Brock Nelson.


Nonetheless, Colorado keeps on rolling as they have all season long. Against one of the top three teams in the league, this was a massive win for the Avalanche. The team moves to the edge of 60 points in the middle of a five-game win streak, while snapping Minnesota’s season-long seven-game win streak. Heading towards the holiday break, the Avs simply seem unstoppable as they extend their advantage over the Dallas Stars.

Up Next

Colorado hosts one more game before the holiday break against the slumping Utah Mammoth. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. MT on Tuesday  night. Altitude Sports will broadcast the game