Saturday, October 5, 2019 09:00 PM (ET)

Rantanen drives Avs past Wild for 2-0 start

Field Level Media
Oct 6, 2019

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Gabriel Landeskog and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 in Denver on Saturday night.

Ryan Graves scored his first goal, Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves for the Avalanche, who have won eight straight regular-season home games dating back to last season.

Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist, and Zach Parise scored the other goal for Minnesota. The Wild have dropped the first two games of the season, both on the road.

Devan Dubnyk, who played in his 300th game for the Wild, stopped 28 shots. He came off for an extra skater with 2:11 remaining, and Graves scored into an empty net at 19:20 to seal it.

Minnesota rallied from a two-goal deficit before Landeskog put the Avalanche back in front late in the second period. Rantanen had the puck in the right circle and passed it across the front of the net to Landeskog, who redirected past Dubnyk at 18:54. It was Landeskog's first of the season.

Rantanen opened the scoring with his third of the season, just 23 seconds into Mats Zuccarello's hooking minor. Rantanen got a pass from MacKinnon, floated into the slot while deking two defenders and beat Dubnyk on a screened shot at 4:30 of the first.

Bellemare made it 2-0 when he scored on a wraparound just 87 seconds after Rantanen's goal. It was Bellemare's first of the season.

The Wild responded midway through the first period when Suter's shot from the point went off Avs defenseman Erik Johnson's stick and past Grubauer. It was Suter's first of the season.

Minnesota nearly tied it moments later when Ryan Donato had a breakaway, but a sprawling Grubauer gloved his backhander to keep the Avalanche in the lead.

The Wild eventually tied it when Matt Dumba's shot from the left circle went off of Parise and over Grubauer's right shoulder on a power play midway through the second period. It was Parise's first of the season.

--Field Level Media

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