By Pat Graham, AP Sports Writer
DENVER (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog scored with 9:37 remaining, Calvin Pickard stopped 32 shots for his second NHL shutout and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 1-0 on Saturday.
Landeskog's goal ended a Colorado scoring drought that lasted more than 164 minutes. He found the net on a pass from Matt Duchene and then hopped into the arms of Nathan MacKinnon in excitement.
Earlier in the third period, Landeskog got into a brief scuffle with Devan Dubnyk after agitating the Minnesota goalie in front of the net.
Pickard stepped in for a struggling Semyon Varlamov and kept the Wild offense in check.
With Dubnyk on the bench for an extra skater, Charlie Coyle knocked in a shot with 48.9 seconds remaining, but it was disallowed because of goaltender interference. The officials ruled that Minnesota forward Eric Staal pushed Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson into Pickard.
Pickard's most opportunistic save of the night was with 5 minutes remaining, when he closed his pads at the last second to save a shot from trickling in. Another hit off the post. His other shutout was Jan. 14 against New Jersey.
Dubnyk mixed it up Landeskog after the two were jostling in front of the net early in the third period. Dubnyk put Landeskog in a headlock as players raced over to separate them. Dubnyk was called for slashing and roughing while Landeskog drew only a roughing penalty, putting the Avs on a fruitless power play.
The Wild were called for two penalties on one play early in the second period. First, Ryan Suter slashed Blake Comeau with the Colorado forward on a breakaway. As Comeau went into the boards, Matt Dumba was whistled for a cross-checking penalty. Colorado a two-man advantage for a full two minutes, but never challenged Dubnyk.
Here's something that doesn't happen all that often: Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon lost the blade on his left skate and kept falling down as he tried to push off. When play finally stopped, he was helped to the bench for repair work.
Notes: Minnesota LW Zach Parise and D Marco Scandella both missed a third game with lower-body injuries. LW Erik Haula (lower-body injury) was out for a seventh straight game. ... Avalanche RW Jarome Iginla played in his 1,484th NHL game to tie Rod Brind'Amour for 19th on the career list. ... Mikko Rantanen took a puck in the face during the first period and briefly went into the locker room for treatment. ... Colorado F John Mitchell cleared waivers Saturday and was back on the fourth line.
Up next
Wild: Don't play again until Thursday in Pittsburgh.
Avalanche: Visit St. Louis on Sunday. They play 11 back-to-back games this season.
