ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 20 (UPI) — Minnesota’s Dany Heatley scored two power-play goals Saturday and the Wild began their season with a 4-2 victory over Colorado.
Zach Parise — signed as a free agent in July along with defenseman Ryan Suter — collected two assists in his Wild debut, while rookie Mikael Granlund got his first NHL tally.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard also scored and Mikko Koivu supplied two assists for Minnesota, which is looking to break a string of four straight years out of the playoffs.
Niklas Backstrom earned the win with 25 saves.
Cody McLeod and John Mitchell scored for the Avalanche, who also missed the playoffs in 2011-12.
Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov turned aside 31-of-35 shots.
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