Hilfe » For a brief moment

DENVER (AP) — Vincent Trocheck Jersey , the Minnesota Wild lost track of the super speedy Nathan MacKinnon.That’s all it took. MacKinnon had a tap-in goal off a nifty pass from Mikko Rantanen to give Colorado the lead, Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and the Avalanche beat the Wild 4-1 on Thursday night in the opener for both teams.“His vision is awesome,” MacKinnon said of his linemate. “I just drove the net and Mikko made a great play.”Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk didn’t have much of a chance on MacKinnon’s second-period goal that gave Colorado a 2-1 advantage. Rantanen skated down the left side and sent a pass through a sea of sticks to MacKinnon, who tapped it in before Dubnyk had a chance to fully turn his head.“He was in a good place and he made a good play,” Dubnky said.Wild coach Bruce Boudreau offered another explanation.“It’s MacKinnon. He’s going to get a lot of goals like that,” Boudreau said.MacKinnon picked up right where he left off from last season, when he tallied 39 goals and 58 assists on his way to finishing second in the Hart Trophy vote. He led the team in shots Thursday with eight. Carl Soderberg scored, while Rantanen and J.T. Compher added empty-net goals for the Avalanche, who moved to 15-5-3 in home openers since moving to town from Quebec.Varlamov returned to net after missing the playoffs last season with a knee injury he suffered late in the regular season. He made his eighth opening-night start in a burgundy-and-blue sweater, surpassing Patrick Roy for the most by an Avalanche goaltender. This also was Varlamov’s 400th career NHL game.“He’s grown so much as a goalie,” MacKinnon said. “His mindset is he can play a low-shot game and stay sharp, and he was great.”Colorado thought it had a two-goal lead when Colin Wilson scored 1:36 into the third after knocking in a puck out of the air. The goal was reviewed and disallowed after it was determined Wilson’s left glove batted the puck in.No matter, Varlamov protected things with save after save. None bigger than stopping an Eric Staal wrist shot with his right shoulder on a 2-on-1 with just under 5 minutes remaining.Rantanen added an empty-net goal with 1:53 remaining and Compher another in the waning seconds to seal the victory.Colorado outshot the Wild 40-21. Zach Parise gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead on a backhand pass from Mikko Koivu early in the first period. Parise missed the opening 39 games a season ago due to a back ailment that required surgery. After steadily working his way back into form Adrian Kempe Jersey , Parise suffered a broken sternum in the playoffs.Minnesota is coming off a season in which it posted 101 points before losing to Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs.“There was some sloppiness that’s not going to be seen in game 20,” Boudreau said. “Pucks bouncing over the sticks and over-skating the puck and things of that nature. … I think they did know how quick the pace was going to be, faster than the preseason, but took us a while to get up to it.”As for the Avalanche, general manager Joe Sakic has modest goals this season after his team returned to the postseason for the first time since 2013-14. Their average age this season is 26.3. They ended last season at 25.8.“Our goal is to make the playoffs, but the most important thing for us is to see the growth of this group,” Sakic said. “We’re excited to see who makes that next jump.”NOTES: Wild F Marcus Foligno was tripped by D Tyson Barrie late in the second period. Foligno went to the bench favoring his left leg but returned a few minutes later. … F Vladislav Kamenev (lower body) and D Anton Lindholm (upper body) were taken off injured reserve and reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. … Avs F Sheldon Dries made his NHL debut. He had two shots. … Soderberg also had an assist.UP NEXT:Minnesota: Starts a three-game homestand Saturday against Las Vegas.Colorado: Hosts Philadelphia on Saturday. TORONTO (AP) James van Riemsdyk had his third career hat trick and Mitch Marner scored the winning goal in a shootout to lift Toronto over the Dallas Stars 6-5 on Wednesday night, extending the Maple Leafs‘ franchise-record home winning streak to 11 games.Marner beat Kari Lehtonen in the third round of the shootout, completing Toronto’s comebacks from 4-2 and 5-4 deficits in the third period.Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau also scored in regulation for the Maple Leafs. Frederik Andersen allowed three goals on 20 shots before getting lifted just past the game’s midway point with an upper-body injury.Curtis McElhinney came on and stopped 13 shots – including two big saves on Jamie Benn during a power play in overtime – the rest of the way to help Toronto improve to 3-2-2 since star center Auston Matthews went down with a shoulder injury on Feb. 22.Tyler Bozak, who also scored in the shootout, and Marner each added two assists to keep the Maple Leafs perfect at home since losing to Colorado on Jan. 22.Tyler Seguin had a goal and two assists, Benn added a goal and an assist, and Radek Faksa http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-mathew-barzal-jersey , Remi Elie and Brett Ritchie also scored in regulation for Dallas. Lehtonen made 26 stops through overtime.RANGERS 4, PENGUINS 3, OTNEW YORK (AP) – Mika Zibanejad scored the tying goal late in the third period and the winner 2:53 into overtime to rally New York past Pittsburgh.Chris Kreider had a goal and three assists for his first career four-point game, and Jesper Fast also scored to help the Rangers win their second straight after a three-game skid. Neal Pionk had three assists and Alexandar Georgiev, making his second consecutive start, finished with 37 saves. Georgiev denied Evgeni Malkin on a penalty shot with 11 seconds left in regulation.On the winner, Zibanejad took a nice pass from Kreider and squeezed a wrist shot past goalie Casey DeSmith for his 100th career goal.Bryan Rust, Riley Sheahan and Carl Hagelin scored for the Penguins, who lost for just the fifth time in 15 games (10-4-1). DeSmith, filling in for injured starter Matt Murray, stopped 29 shots in his ninth career start.The Rangers, likely to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2010, are 2-0-1 in their last three games and 5-2-2 in their past nine.DEVILS 8 http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-nick-leddy-jersey , GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3LAS VEGAS (AP) – Blake Coleman scored twice, Michael Grabner and Nico Hischier each had a goal and an assist, and New Jersey routed Vegas.Taylor Hall, Travis Zajac, Stefan Noesen and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Devils, who moved one point ahead of idle Columbus for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference. Keith Kinkaid stopped 39 shots.Erik Haula had two goals and Colin Miller also scored for Vegas, which had just completed a 4-1 road trip. The Golden Knights gave up eight goals for the second time this season in their worst home loss. They have dropped three straight games in regulation at home for the first time.Marc-Andre Fleury, who earned his 400th career win Monday against Philadelphia, gave up four goals on 11 shots before being pulled early in the second period. Backup goalie Maxime Legace came on and also allowed four goals, on 17 shots.SHARKS 4, OILERS 3, OTEDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Tomas Hertl had two goals Nick Foligno Jersey , including the game-winner 2:40 into overtime, and San Jose pulled out a win over Edmonton.Logan Couture and Brenden Dillon also scored for the Sharks, who have won two straight. San Jose is in second place in the Pacific Division, three points ahead of Los Angeles and Anaheim with 12 games remaining.Drake Caggiula, Oscar Klefbom and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had the goals for the Oilers, who lost their second in a row.DUCKS 3, CANUCKS 0ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Jason Chimera got his first goal and assist with Anaheim, and defenseman Brandon Montour scored twice as the Ducks extended Vancouver’s scoreless streak to 10 periods.The victory left the Ducks tied with Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division at 82 points. Anaheim has played one more game than the Kings.Montour scored his first goal for the Ducks in 50 games and then added a second on a power play in the final minute. John Gibson made 32 saves to hand the slumping Canucks their third consecutive shutout.The 38-year-old Chimera came to the Ducks in a Feb. 26 trade with the New York Islanders.Vancouver has lost five straight and eight of nine. Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 shots.—