ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The Wild stuck with the same formula.
Winger Nino Niederreiter scored.
So did the power play.
And the team received the saves from its goaltender _ this time, backup Alex Stalock _ when it needed them most, a combination that yielded a 3-2 shootout win over the Avalanche during a matinee meeting Friday at Xcel Energy Center that improved the Wild to 6-1-1 in their last eight games.
Forwards Charlie Coyle and Chris Stewart scored in the shootout, while Stalock turned aside both shots he faced.
The earlier-than-usual puck drop didn't seem to bother the Wild, as the team opened the scoring just 1 minute, 13 seconds into the game when center Eric Staal set up winger Jason Zucker for a shot from the slot that eluded traffic and Avalanche goalie Jonathan Bernier.
But the energetic start didn't last.
Colorado evened it at 10:23 while shorthanded. The puck rolled by defenseman Mike Reilly at the blue line, enabling winger J.T. Compher to skate in alone on Stalock and capitalize on a blocker-side shot that was the team's only second puck on net of the game. It was also the second shorthanded tally given up by the Wild this season.
The Avalanche added another goal before the period adjourned after winger Blake Comeau finished off a two-on-one rush at 15:54.
But after that, the familiar catalysts for the Wild took over.
Niederreiter tied it at 2 on the power play with a blistering one-timer just 5:02 into the period for his seventh goal during a six-game goal streak that ties the franchise record set by Brian Rolston Jan.21-Feb.5, 2008.
The goal also extended Niederreiter's power-play goal streak to five games and point streak to eight games _ all career-bests. Captain Mikko Koivu's assist on the play was his seventh during a five-game assist streak and sixth during a four-game run of setting up power-play goals.
Overall, the unit went 1 for 2 while the Wild snuffed out three power-play chances for the Avalanche.
Stalock, who earned the start for Game 1 of a back-to-back that concludes Saturday in St. Louis against the Blues, was among the busiest penalty killers, especially to start the third. He stopped a Gabriel Landeskog attempt and interrupted winger Mikko Rantanen's look at the top of the crease before later kicking out his pad to block Nail Yakupov's shot.
Colorado continued to pressure the Wild the rest of the period and had its best chance to pull ahead on a Compher breakaway, but Stalock was steady _ finishing with 28 saves. Bernier had 25 for the Avs.
And that play between the pipes kept the Wild afloat until the team found a groove in overtime and outlasted Colorado in the shootout.
