MINNEAPOLIS — Many wore Wild jerseys, some brought signs and after the puck dropped, the arena reverberated with a "Let's Go Wild" chant.
The crowd of 3,000 that scattered around Xcel Energy Center on Monday night was the largest and loudest live audience the Wild has hosted this year.
But instead of catching a glimpse of the home-ice prowess that's headlined most of the team's season, fans witnessed the Wild's first loss in St. Paul in more than two months.
The Avalanche held on for a 5-4 win that extended Colorado's point streak to an NHL-best 15 games (13-0-2) while nixing the Wild's franchise-record home win streak at 11.
The last time the Wild lost at Xcel Energy Center was Jan.30, also to the Avalanche.
This was also the first matchup since Colorado crushed the Wild twice in March in consecutive games, a low point of the season the Wild rebound from by sweeping its last homestand and going 2-1-1 on its most recent road trip.
And it looked like the Wild initially would continue to distance itself from those pair of blowouts, dominating play early against the Avalanche.
The Wild transitioned up ice with speed, was active on the forecheck and tested goalie Philipp Grubauer regularly.
That pressure culminated in the first goal at 8 minutes, 40 seconds after Nick Bjugstad chipped the puck past Ryan Graves and then sent a backhand pass to the slot for Ryan Hartman to one-time by Grubauer. Hartman saluted the crowd in his celebration, the most boisterous reaction to a Wild goal the team had heard up to that point this season.
But the Wild didn't sustain that pace and energy.
Cue Colorado.
Only 18 seconds into the second period, Nathan MacKinnon surged up the middle on a breakaway and wired the puck glove-side on goalie Cam Talbot to even the score at 1.
On the very next shift only 1:11 after MacKinnon's goal, Andre Burakovsky buried a puck that popped out of Talbot's glove at 1:29 – a goal that came after a failed clearing attempt by Jordan Greenway.
That lead held until late in the second when another two-goal outburst widened the Avalanche's cushion.
Brandon Saad made it 3-1 when he whacked in a loose puck in front after cross-checking Wild captain Jared Spurgeon to the ice, contact that went uncalled.
And then 2:04 later, J.T. Compher tipped in a Cale Makar point shot to cap off a four-goal period for Colorado.
The Wild did inch closer in the third when Bjugstad finished off a 2-on-1 rush at 3:35.
This was the first multi-point effort of the season for Bjugstad, who has 12 of his 15 points at home. He would go on to record a Gordie Howe hat trick after fighting with Kyle Burroughs later in the period, Bjugstad's first career Gordie Howe hat trick.
Colorado reinstated its three-goal buffer at 7:22 on the power play when captain Gabriel Landeskog redirected in a Mikko Rantanen feed. The Avalanche finished 1-for-3 on the power play.
But the Wild responded with its own power play goal at 9:44, a shot from the corner by Marcus Johansson that deflected in off Colorado defenseman Devon Toews' skate. Hartman earned another assist on the play, his first three-point game since Oct.5, 2017.
And then with 35 seconds to go, the Wild power play scored again – this time on a shot from Kevin Fiala with Talbot on the bench for a 6-on-4 look.
But time ran out before the Wild could get any closer.
Overall, the Wild went 2-for-6 on the power play.
Grubauer made 21 saves in his 100th career start with Colorado, improving to 12-0-1 in his past 13 games.
As for Talbot, he had 31 stops in his first loss at home this season that snapped a 7-0 run at Xcel Energy Center.
