Colorado Cruises Past Wild In Season Opener

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 Thursday night at Pepsi Center in both teams' regular season opener. The Wild were outshot 40-21 in the loss.

The Wild got on the board first when Zach Parise flicked a shot past Avs goaltender Semyon Varlamov after a perfect pass from Mikko Koivu behind the net. Nino Niederreiter was also credited with an assist on the goal, which came at 6:14 of the first period.

However, the Avalanche tied the game just over six minutes later when Carl Soderberg scored, with the assist credited to Matt Nieto. Nate MacKinnon scored the eventual game-winner for Colorado halfway through the second period, and the Avs sealed the win with a pair of empty-net goals late in the third period.

The Wild will host Las Vegas Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center for their home opener. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on AM 1240 WJON.