Avalanche defeats Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout for 14th straight win at Ball Arena

A call to Toronto and success in the shootout helped the Avalanche extend its club-record home winning streak to 14 games Monday afternoon at Ball Arena.

Nathan MacKinnon’s go-ahead goal with 3:32 remaining put the Avs ahead. Although the Minnesota Wild tied the game shortly thereafter, the Avs remained perfect in a shootout and skated off 4-3 winners over their Central Division rivals in a chippy game in front of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day crowd.

MacKinnon’s goal was originally ruled a save by Minnesota goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, but overturned when it became obvious the puck was stuck under Kahkonen’s left leg pad while across the goal line.

“Obviously, it’s under his foot (inside the net),” MacKinnon said. “I didn’t know if it was going to count but obviously really happy it did.”

Winger Mikko Rantanen, who scored the Avs’ first goal in what became a 2-0 lead, scored the only goal in the three-round shootout, and goalie Pavel Francouz — who came off the bench for starter Darcy Kuemper in the second period — stopped all three shots.

Western Conference-leading Colorado (25-8-3) improved to 3-0 in shootouts and has won three of its past four games beyond regulation. Francouz has stopped all six shootout shots he has faced this season, including the first three on Friday against Arizona.

“We were killing teams for a while there every night, so you know, it’s important for us to be in these tight games,” MacKinnon said. “Last year, we didn’t have many tight games. We beat a lot of teams really bad the whole year. So I think in the playoffs, that didn’t help us. We’re in high-pressure situations against really good teams this season.”

Colorado is 8-0-1 in January, the club’s longest point streak of the season. The Avs are 13-1-1 in their past 15 games.

The last NHL team to win 14 consecutive home games was the Washington Capitals (15) in 2017.

Colorado had a mid-game change in goal after Kuemper was struck in the head by Wild forward Jordan Greenway, who was whistled for an interference minor. Avs defenseman Kurtis MacDermid took exception to Greenway’s fly-by at the goalmouth and picked a fight. He was assessed an instigating minor and 10-minute misconduct, in addition to matching fighting majors.

Kuemper was flagged for concussion protocol and “wasn’t good enough to come back in the game,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, who felt Greenway intentionally drove his body into Kuemper’s head.

“Our D is not riding (Greenway) in there. I see him coming across the front of the net and then readjust his route and goes right into Kuemper,” Bednar said. “Looks like it’s intentional to me. I don’t know how it can only be a two-minute penalty. But I’m sure the league will look at it.”

Francouz inherited a 2-1 lead but allowed the 2-2 goal to Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov at 6:46 of the third period, and then to Kaprizov again at 17:09 to knot it at 3. But he was perfect from then on — making a glove save on Kaprizov in the shootout.

Francouz played against Kaprizov in the Kontinental Hockey League and was expecting the Russian to shoot from the top of the crease.

“He’s really skilled,” Francouz said. “I was trying to be patient (like) every time. He gets really close. So I tried to put my gloves as close as I could and he put it in.”

The Avs led 2-0 after the first period but Minnesota got within a goal just 33 seconds into the second. Wild forward Kevin Fiala sped down the left wing and accepted a zone-entry pass from Matt Boldy. Fiala beat defenseman Sam Girard to the net and used a backhand to beat Kuemper.

Rantanen and Alex Newhook scored at 15:57 and 17:39, respectively, as Colorado built a 2-0 lead by capitalizing on consecutive Minnesota penalties. Rantanen’s goal came on a 5-on-3 power play and Newhook struck four seconds after the second penalty expired.

Footnotes. Avs forward Valeri Nichushkin entered COVID protocol before the game. Colorado was also without forward Darren Helm (injury) and defenseman Bo Byram (personal leave). … Colorado will depart for Anaheim on Tuesday and begin a two-game road trip on Wednesday against the Ducks. The trip concludes on Thursday at the Los Angeles Kings. … Fiala became the fourth Swiss-born player in league history to score 100 career goals, joining Timo Meier, Nino Niederreiter and Roman Josi.

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