MacKinnon passes 50 goals with hat trick in Avalanche win against Wild

Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, Kirill Kaprizov scored, and Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves for the Wild (37-32-9), who were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.

“It’s not a very fun position to be in. We’ve strung together some good games. Obviously, tonight’s tough,” Minnesota defenseman Zach Bogosian said. “They’re a good team, and when you give, obviously, a player like MacKinnon [space], I mean he can take over a game. And he showed tonight why he’s a world-class player.

“We’ll compete right to the end. We’re not going to sit here and make excuses or play the what if game. We have to get ready to play against Vegas (on Friday). It’s the pride, it’s the culture. That’s the stuff you’re playing for, right?”

Lehkonen gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:33 of the first period, one-timing MacKinnon’s centering pass from just below the left hash marks.

MacKinnon made it 2-0 at 8:38 when he skated through Bogosian and Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin before scoring short side on Gustavsson.

“We were laughing, actually, after his first goal. I thought we were playing in Halifax [again], to be honest,” Drouin said. “I’ve seen those breakout goals where he just blows by the [defensemen] and the [defense] does’t even stand a chance. He had his legs tonight, for sure, and he made it count.”

Kaprizov cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 10:14, putting in his own rebound after Georgiev sticked aside his initial attempt on a wraparound.

“He’s played great for us, obviously. That’s the competitive edge that we’re looking for, and he can drive a team,” Bogosian said. “There’s certain players that can drive teams. Obviously, MacKinnon does that for them, and Kirill does that for us. He’s been playing awesome.”