Erik Haula had a goal and assist, Devan Dubnyk stopped 30 shots and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 Sunday.
Martin Hanzal, Jared Spurgeon, Zach Parise and Jordan Schroeder also scored for Minnesota, which recovered from a tough 3-0 loss at Nashville a day earlier with a resounding win against the NHL’s worst team.
The Wild remained seven points ahead of St. Louis for second place in the Central Division and closed to within seven points of first-place Chicago.
Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen scored for Colorado, which has lost eight of nine overall and 10 in a row on the road. The Avalanche have a league-low 45 points this season.
Calvin Pickard started in goal for Colorado but was pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Jeremy Smith made 11 saves in relief.
