Nathan MacKinnon had a tap-in goal off a nifty pass from Mikko Rantanen, Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 in the opener for both teams.

Carl Soderberg added a goal and Rantanen sealed it with an empty-netter for the Avalanche, who moved to 15-5-3 in home openers since moving from Quebec.