Takeaways: Wild’s seven-game winning streak ends with 5-1 loss to NHL-best Avalanche

The Avalanche are atop the NHL with 26 victories, and now they finally have one against the Wild.

Colorado stumped the Wild 5-1 Sunday at Grand Casino Arena to end the Wild’s seven-game win streak and their franchise-record 14-game point streak on home ice.

“We showed them a little too much respect, I think,” Mats Zuccarello said. “A good team like that, you gotta be on the front foot. But you gotta give them credit. It’s simple. They were a better team than us today. We didn’t have our best, and then you don’t win games like this.”

Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, with the Avalanche scoring twice in the second period on the power play to run away from the Wild, who were denied on their three power play chances. Warroad’s Brock Nelson set up both Colorado power-play goals before adding a goal. Nathan MacKinnon became the first NHLer to 30 this season with a pair of goals.

“We talked about how this one was going to be a really good test with how well this team’s been playing after the [Quinn Hughes] trade, how tight our division is and how important these games are in terms of standings for playoffs and good measuring stick for us,” Nelson said. “I thought we executed in all of our special teams, 5-on-5. I thought we did a really good job being dialed in.”

Ryan Hartman capitalized in the third to prevent the Wild’s first shutout of the season. Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood totaled 28 saves, while Wild rookie Jesper Wallstedt racked up 37.

At a mindboggling 26-2-7 — yes, the Avalanche have only two regulation losses — Colorado has a four-point lead over second-place Dallas and is 10 points up on the third-place Wild.

The next two games between these Central Division rivals are Feb. 26 and March 8 in Denver.

“Mentally and physically, we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “If you’re gonna win a game like that, you have to be sharp and you have to be on.”

The Avalanche’s takeover started late in the first period when Makar found Martin Necas in an open pocket right in front of the Wild net for a one-timer with 1:32 to go.

Early in the second, Colorado appeared to double its lead when Lakeville’s Sam Malinski jammed in a loose puck, but the Wild challenged and Malinski’s goal was overturned for the Avalanche being offside before he scored; the Wild are 3-for-3 when challenging this season.

Later in the period, the Wild could have tied Colorado on the power play after Hartman was high-sticked, but the Wild whiffed on the opportunity.

Penalty trouble the rest of the second period cost the Wild.

While Vladimir Tarasenko was sitting for interference, Nelson passed off to MacKinnon for a one-timer at 13:37.

Then, after Marcus Foligno was whistled for four minutes’ worth of penalties (interference and cross-checking), Makar moved into the slot and wired the puck by Wallstedt with 34 seconds left in Foligno’s second penalty and 1:27 remaining in the second. Earlier on the power play, Blackwood stopped Matt Boldy on a shorthanded breakaway; Colorado finished 2-for-4 on the power play.

“They got five shooting options on the power play, and they were able to convert on some of those,” Nico Sturm said. “Ideally, we’d like to kill one more of those. Just overall, those details matter.

“You might get away with it against a different team, but obviously not tonight.”

Nelson connected on a cross-zone feed with 4:08 left for his 14th goal of the season before MacKinnon skated in an empty-netter with 2:25 to go.

Colorado improved to 19-1-4 when scoring first.

The Avalanche showed why they are leading the NHL.

They are skilled, swift and smart — a combination that makes them difficult to contain on offense and frustrating to crack on defense.

To be fair, the schedule didn’t do the Wild any favors; they played the previous day, edging Edmonton 5-2, while Colorado was off.

“Our compete and our want was there,” Hynes said. “I just felt we were just, like, a step slow and a step off all night, whether it’s in the speed in which we played with, our skating, our execution.

“We were just a little bit of a step behind in those situations.”