St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Gabriel Landeskog and Zach Redmond each had a goal and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche held on for a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center.
Jarome Iginla collected two assists for the Avalanche, who avoided being swept in the season series against the Wild after scoring only one goal in the first four meetings.
Colorado, which saw a three-goal lead nearly evaporate, has won eight of its last 11 games.
"I'm very proud of our guys. That's type of hockey we've been playing lately," said Avalanche coach Patrick Roy.
Semyon Varlamov, making his 22nd consecutive start for the Avalanche, registered 29 saves before leaving with 5:44 to go in the game. Varlamov was stung by a high shot off his right shoulder early in the second period, but Roy said after the game that Varlamov exited with a lower-body injury.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 18 shots for the Wild, who had a five-game winning streak ended.
Minnesota got on the board with 5:56 left in the third period. Chris Stewart attempted to play a carom of his own dump-in but fanned on the shot. The puck, however, went in off the skate of a backchecking Tyson Barrie.
Reto Berra replaced Varlamov shortly thereafter, and he gave up a goal to Thomas Vanek with 19.4 seconds left. With Dubnyk on the bench, Berra got a piece of Nino Niederreiter's shot, but Vanek tapped the puck in at the right post.
Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda was able to clear the puck away just before the horn as the Wild came with one more flurry.
Cody McLeod earned a fine for his actions at the end of the most recent matchup in this budding rivalry. He launched himself at the Wild's Mikael Granlund off a faceoff, then fought Charlie Coyle last Saturday in Denver.
The hard-nosed checker likely anticipated a response from the Wild, and he didn't back down from Stewart, dropping the gloves with his former Colorado teammate 43 seconds into Sunday's game.
McLeod continued to be a thorn in Minnesota's side, scoring on a goal late in the first period. He tipped Iginla's shot past Dubnyk with 1:55 remaining.
Redmond scored Colorado's second goal on a blast from the point with 1:51 left in the second period.
"We were really buzzing for a while in the second period, weren't able to capitalize and the next thing you know, the puck goes in our net," said Wild coach Mike Yeo.
The Avalanche went up 3-0 on a power play, as Landeskog tapped in a loose puck in the crease at the 1:19 mark of the third period. It was the lone power-play goal scored in the season series between the teams.
Game Notes
Landeskog has nine goals and six assists in his last 12 games ... Colorado improved to 2-5-2 in the second of back-to-back games this season ... Minnesota was 0-for-2 on the power play. Colorado has killed off 19 straight short-handed situations.
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