Avalanche put up 9 goals in outscoring Wild in playoff series opener

May 4, 2026, 1:47 a.m. ETCale Makar scored twice in the third period, Nazem Kadri also had a goal in the third, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild, 9-6, in a high-scoring Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Sunday night in Denver.Makar added an assist, Devon Toews had a goal and three assists, Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and two assists, Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski each contributed a goal and an assist, and Nick Blankenburg and Jack Drury also scored for Colorado.Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Denver.Quinn Hughes had a goal and two assists, and Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno scored for Minnesota, which rallied from down 3-0 early to take a brief lead late in the second period.The game was tied 5-all when Makar, who shook off an early injury, got a pass from MacKinnon in the right circle and wristed a shot high past Jesper Wallstedt at 3:21. Kadri padded the lead at 5:43 of the third with a breakaway goal."I feel like I was in a pretty good scoring area," Kadri said. "Ross (Colton) made a nice pass to spring