ST. PAUL, Minn. _ Wild players accomplished what few others have this season.
They quieted the Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
The most potent line in hockey, which racked up 10 points _ run-of-the-mill for this trio _ Friday night, was limited to just two points.
And as expected, the Wild were rewarded accordingly by rallying for a 3-2 decision Saturday in front of 19,093 at Xcel Energy Center for the team's fifth straight victory.
Rather than being outshined, it was the Wild's offensive leaders who took over with winger Mikael Granlund scoring a goal and setting up another _ from center Eric Staal in the third period. Combine that with 30 saves from goalie Devan Dubnyk, and the Wild matched their longest win streak from last season in October.
Neutralizing Colorado's top unit was the plan, but how the Wild executed it probably wasn't.
The team fell behind, was slow to get shots through and committed a string of penalties that flirted with danger since they gave the Avalanche's playmakers exactly what the Wild were trying to eliminate _ time and space.
After the Wild were whistled for too-many men just 27 seconds following puck drop, the sluggish start looked like it could set the tone for the entire night.
But the team prevailed; it negated that penalty and another power play for the Avalanche later in the period and exited the first trailing just 1-0 despite testing Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov just four times.
A loose puck after an offensive-zone draw squirted out to defenseman Mark Barberio, and he wove a shot through traffic and Dubnyk's five-hole at 5:54 for the early Avalanche lead.
The second period didn't start much better, with another penalty putting the Wild shorthanded again. But the Wild were tenacious, draining seconds off the clock along the wall in the offensive zone and it was just as steady when it had to play 45 seconds at a 5-on-3 disadvantage.
Overall, the penalty kill went a spotless 6-for-6 _ this after it went 4-for-4 Thursday in the 4-1 win over the Kings.
That performance buoyed the Wild until Varlamov became an active participant in the game.
Only two seconds after one of its power plays expired, the team finally capitalized when Granlund roofed a shot in tight over Varlamov at 7:15 of the second.
Colorado's top three, meanwhile, remained a footnote in the action.
Entering the game, Landeskog tied for third in the NHL in goals (nine), MacKinnon was second in points (18) and Rantanen was first (20). But the trio didn't have much real estate to operate _ unlike previous meetings against the Wild as they helped the Avalanche win four in a row against its Central Division foe.
The Wild's top players were much more effective and finally resolved a 1-1 tie 10:16 into the third.
After blanking on its first four power-play looks, the Wild switched up its all-lefty unit by subbing in center Charlie Coyle for winger Nino Niederreiter and the change paid off _ with Granlund feeding Staal for a one-timer in the slot.
Granlund stretched his point streak to seven games _ a span in which he's accumulated nine points. He has three goals in his last three games.
Defenseman Jonas Brodin added an empty-net goal shorthanded with 2:43 to go, which emerged as the game-winner once Landeskog scored off a Rantanen assist at 19:18.
Varlamov totaled 25 saves.
