With a little over a minute left in the second period, Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon made the Wild look silly when he deked Trenin and tied the game with his 18th goal of the season. It came on just the Avalanche's 11th shot on goal in two periods.

The Colorado Avalanche has hit a snag on its potential climb to the top of the Central Division, and the most surprising part is what’s currently the biggest issue. When the Avs stumbled to a 14-13 start,

Without Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota played a smart, poised and gutsy game, pulling away in the third for a 3-1 victory at Ball Arena.

The Wild are bringing Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back from injuries as the NHL season reaches the home stretch.

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This is the obvious one. Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL with 68 points, seven more than Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in second place. Also of note, he’s first in points per game at 1.58, narrowly ahead of the Art Ross winner last season, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov at 1.57.

Leading Wild goal scorer Kirill Kaprizov has missed multiple games with a lower-body injury, but his return could be imminent.

He was seven points behind MacKinnon when Kaprizov last played Dec. 23. Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche, 60 points (seven first-place votes); Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild, 53 (five first-place ...

In the Daily, we have a pair of streaking teams meeting at Madison Square Garden, when the New York Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers. Plus latest NHL news, including Kirill Kaprizov back from injury for Minnesota Wild.

DENVER (AP) — Yakov Trenin scored against his former team early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday. Jake Middleton had a goal and an assist, Brock Faber also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for Minnesota.

After recovering from stomach flu, Fleury was the best Wild player on the ice — by far — in lifting the Wild to a 3-1 win over the Sharks.

MacKinnon is the most likely Avalanche player to take advantage of a Wild defense that is bleeding shots. Not only is he the best shot-generator on the team, but the Wild have allowed the second-most shots to centers in the NHL over the past few weeks.