Stastny leads Avs' outburst vs. Backstrom, Wild

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• Stastny Scores Twice As Avalanche Outlast Wild, 6-5

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Game Information

Arena: Xcel Energy Center Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

Referees: Eric Furlatt, Brian Pochmara Linesmen: Derek Amell, Thor Nelson

Attendance: 18,568 (102.8% full)

Team Stat Comparison
190	Goals	214
253	Goals Against	197
50	Power Play Goals	66
64	Power Play Goals Allowed	36
4	Shorthanded Goals	9
8	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	6
1062	Penalty Minutes	889
13	Average Penalty Minutes	11

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD			COL	MIN
5:50		Pierre-Marc Bouchard Assists: Mikko Koivu, Martin Skoula	0	1
9:09		Marek Svatos Assists: John-Michael Liles, Ruslan Salei	1	1
12:43		David Jones Assists: Ian Laperriere, Cody McCormick	2	1
19:11		Mikko Koivu (Power Play) Assists: Brent Burns, Pierre-Marc Bouchard	2	2
2ND PERIOD			COL	MIN
0:22		Pierre-Marc Bouchard (Power Play) Assists: Marc-Andre Bergeron, Marek Zidlicky	2	3
3:49		Paul Stastny Assists: Brian Willsie, Milan Hejduk	3	3
8:16		Milan Hejduk (Power Play) Assists: Paul Stastny	4	3
16:32		T.J. Hensick Assists: Ian Laperriere	5	3
17:51		Paul Stastny Assists: Ryan Smyth, Milan Hejduk	6	3
19:18		Owen Nolan (Power Play) Assists: Andrew Brunette, Mikko Koivu	6	4
3RD PERIOD			COL	MIN
14:00		Brent Burns Assists: Kim Johnsson	6	5

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Games between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche are usually low-scoring, grind-it-out affairs.

Fast Facts

• The Avalanche snapped a five-game winless streak in Minnesota (three regulation losses, two overtime losses).

• Seven of the Wild's last nine games have been decided by one goal; they are 3-3-0 in those contests, including two shootouts.

• Colorado forward Ryan Smyth had an assist, bringing his point total in his last 16 games to six (three goals, three assists).

-- ESPN research

Not this time.

Paul Stastny had two goals and an assist and the low-scoring Avalanche broke out for a 6-5 win over the Wild on Monday night.

Marek Svatos, David Jones, T.J. Hensick and Milan Hejduk also scored for Colorado, which entered the game as the second-lowest scoring team in the Western Conference. The six goals were a season high for the Avalanche and the 11 total goals were the most in a game between the two teams.

"You don't expect that. The last few years I've been here it's been 1-0, 2-1, 3-2," Stastny said. "We just went with it. All four lines were playing well."

The Avalanche (12-12-0) had a 20-6 shots advantage midway through the second period and capitalized on several Wild turnovers and miscues to build an insurmountable lead.

Hejduk, Hensick and Stastny scored three straight goals in the second off Minnesota turnovers to give Colorado a 6-3 lead. The offensive outburst was even more surprising since it came against the Wild, the NHL's toughest team to score against.

"Worst two periods that I've seen," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We made so many mistakes there in the first and second and we lost confidence a bit."

Stastny's last goal in the second proved to be the winner after Minnesota's Brent Burns scored with six minutes left in the third to cut it to 6-5.

Burns' goal held up after a replay showed he did not interfere with Colorado goalie Peter Budaj before the puck crossed the line.

A bouncing puck off the stick of Wild forward Benoit Pouliot went in the net a few seconds after time expired in the third period, causing the Minnesota fans to groan in disbelief and Lemaire to laugh.

"Yeah, that's funny," he said. "Two more seconds and we're OK. But we got what we deserved."

Minnesota needed the late surge after looking dazed for much of the first two periods. The only time the Wild (14-8-1) looked sharp through two periods Monday was on the power play, where they scored three times.

Avs coach Tony Granato credited his skaters for forcing many of the Wild mistakes.

"If you look at puck possession, time of possession, scoring chances and battles won and lost, I think we controlled that pretty much from start to finish," he said. "Our speed was good tonight, and our support away from the puck was good as well."

Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored twice and Mikko Koivu and Owen Nolan each scored. Both of Bouchard's goals gave Minnesota a temporary one-goal lead. Nolan's goal cut the Avs' lead to 6-4 before the second intermission.

Josh Harding replaced Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom to start the third period. Bakstrom entered Monday with a 2.15 goals-against average and was one of the main reasons for Minnesota's early-season defensive success.

Lemaire made it clear he didn't think the high score was all because of Backstrom.

"If Backstrom hadn't been good tonight, they would've scored 10," he said.

Colorado continues to scratch out wins despite missing two of its core players.

The Avs have won three of four and remain competitive in the conference despite playing without Adam Foote (back) and Joe Sakic (back) for most of November. Both players did not make the road trip and will be re-evaluated this week.

Meanwhile, Colorado needs to keep finding ways to keep scoring goals and staying relevant in the always-tight West.

"We're back to .500, now we need to go from here," Stastny said. "I thought earlier we were playing well the last couple of games and we could get a string of wins but we got a big one here."

Game notes
The Wild named defenseman Kim Johnsson captain for December. The veteran Swede leads the Wild in ice time (24:55) and has eight points. It will be Johnsson's first stint as captain since signing with Minnesota in 2006. ... Colorado is finishing up a stretch of nine of 12 games on the road and hasn't played consecutive home games since Nov. 6-8. ... This was the 300th regular-season game played at the Xcel Energy Center. ... Six was a season high in goals allowed for Minnesota. ... Wild center Eric Belanger returned from a lower-body injury and skated in his 500th game.