Wild 6 - 4 Avalanche
Final
  for this game

Setoguchi lifts Wild over Avs

Mar 16, 2013 - 10:16 PM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Devin Setoguchi scored twice and added an assist, as the Minnesota Wild completed a home-and-home sweep of the Colorado Avalanche with a 6-4 decision on Saturday at Pepsi Center.

After knocking off the Avs, 5-3, at home on Thursday, the Wild received a goal and an assist apiece from Ryan Suter and Pierre-Marc Bouchard to notch their fourth victory in their last five games.

Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck each scored once, while Niklas Backstrom posted 28 saves for the Wild.

Gabriel Landeskog registered a goal and an assist, while PA Parenteau, Chuck Kobasew and John Mitchell also lit the lamp for Colorado, which has lost three straight.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up four goals on 14 shots in the first period before being replaced by Semyon Varlamov, who stopped 12-of-14 shots over the final two periods.

Minnesota erupted for four goals in the first frame, with the first two coming just 1:44 apart inside of six minutes.

Suter started the outburst with a power-play marker at the 4:16 mark, as he rifled a one-timer from the top of the right circle that whizzed past Giguere.

Setoguchi followed under two minutes later with his first of the night, as he ripped a wrister from just inside the right circle that sailed high over Giguere's glove to make it 2-0 at the six-minute mark.

Clutterbuck lit the lamp just over three minutes later to push the margin to 3-0, and after Mitchell found the back of the net at the 14:11 mark to bring Colorado within two, Dany Heatley blasted a shot off the crossbar that Brodziak pounded home in front to cap Minnesota's first-period flurry.

"It needs to be addressed," Parenteau said of his team's slow start. "I just do not have an answer for that. If I did we would have been able to solve it."

Colorado cut into the lead with a pair of goals in the first 10 1/2 minutes of the second, as Parenteau netted his 12th of the season at 2:45 before Landeskog found the back of the net with a one-timer at the 10:23 mark to bring the Avs within 4-3.

Minnesota answered under two minutes later when Bouchard intercepted an errant Colorado clearing attempt before slipping a backhander past Varlamov to push the lead to 5-3 at the 12:02 mark.

"No lead in this league is safe, but Bouchard's goal was big," Setoguchi said. "Every team knows, especially with a short season, how important these games are now."

The Wild added an insurance tally just past the midpoint of the third when Bouchard made a one-touch feed to the slot for a cutting Setoguchi, who slipped a quick shot through the five-hole of Varlamov to make it 6-3 at the 10:22 mark.

Kobasew scored his third of the season with 1:53 remaining to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

Heatley finished with two assists to give him 400 for his career ... Setoguchi's assist was the 100th of his career ... Minnesota's six goals were the most it has scored this season ... Minnesota improved to 5-7-1 on the road, while Colorado dropped to 8-4-1 at home.






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