ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The Wild didn't surrender seven to the Avalanche for a third straight matchup.
But this improvement wasn't enough to overcome their pesky division rival, not when the Wild's own production dipped in a 5-1 slipup Tuesday in front of 19,171 at Xcel Energy Center that wasn't for a lack of try.
Actually, the Wild dominated the Avalanche early amid 12 first-period shots. But a lack of executed headlined the collection of close calls that included a cut to the middle by winger Jason Zucker before Zucker took a slash to the left arm and fell hard to the ice on his right side after again crashing the net.
Zucker missed the rest of the period but returned for the second.
By then, the Avalanche had capitalized on their third shot of the first _ a rising puck from winger J.T. Compher 16 minutes, 22 seconds into the frame.
The Wild eventually tied it when captain Mikko Koivu finished off a Charlie Coyle feed at 13:56.
But only 59 seconds later, a wide-open Nikita Zadorov one-timed the puck by goalie Devan Dubnyk.
And just 11 seconds into the third, center Nathan MacKinnon wired a shot by Dubnyk after getting around Koivu.
Colorado added a fourth on a shot from Compher from his knees at 13:26 and secured another power-play goal from center Tyson Jost with 1:21 to go, the Avalanche's second power-play goal in three chances. The Wild went 0-for-4.
Defenseman Jared Spurgeon left the game in the third period after losing an edge, going into the boards while doing the splits.
