Paul Stastny and Wojtek Wolski tore things up in the Colorado Avalanche's 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night. Stastny scored twice and assisted on Wolski's empty-net goal with a second left.
"I think we've built a pretty good relationship," said Wolski, "We're just both working hard."
Stastny's two goals in the second period, along with his assist, gave him 100 points in 99 career games. He is the 6th player in franchise history to reach 100 points in 100 or fewer contests. Lots of hockey history in the Stastny family - Stastny's father, Peter, needed 73 games to reach 100 points. His uncles, Marian and Anton Stastny, took 82 and 95 games, respectively, to reach the mark.
"He makes plays," said Smyth, who had a goal and an assist. "The puck doesn't die with Stastny. Collectively, we're playing well together."
Peter Budaj had a great game in the pipes, stopping 25 shots. He allowed 2 power-play goals in the second period, and then clamped down.
One of the goals deflected up into the air and Budaj couldn't locate it. Eric Belanger knocked it in for the Wild.
"I don't know why goalies never look up when the puck is in the air," Budaj said. "I tried to get back in net, the puck went off my shoulder as I went down and into the net. It was an unlucky break."
Pierre-Marc Bouchard also had a power-play goal for the Wild. Minnesota has seven power-play goals in its last three games but it's not been enough.
The Wild were off for five days before taking the ice Sunday and coach Jacques Lemaire thought the break hurt his team at the beginning.
"We didn't pass the puck well to start," he said. "Sure, we practiced well the last two days. But the opposition is not the same."
The Avalanche will be in the same position this week. The team has a long break and won't play again until Friday night in Dallas.
"I think the big thing is we have some practices to work on things and better ourselves," Smyth said. "Hopefully, we can build off the next little week here."
Joe Sakic assisted on Stastny's first goal, which came courtesy of a power play. He now has 12 assists in his last 12 games. However, Sakic only has one goal in that time frame.
Marian Gaborik missed his second straight game due to a strained groin. The Wild were without forward Stephane Veilleux, who was scratched before the game. He broke his left cheekbone when he was hit by a nasty puck in practice Saturday.
"We have to play better than we did tonight if we want to win with our injured players or without them," Lemaire said. "We have to play well with the players that we had."
Colorado coach Joel Quenneville is certainly pleased with what he's seeing out of the combo of Stastny and Wolski.
"They haven't played a lot together, but when they do get together, they seem to work well together," Quenneville said. "Paul had a real nice game."
Not that he wanted to talk about it or the fact he already had reached 100 points for his career.
"I'll look back maybe down the road," Stastny said. "I'm just excited right now that the team won and we're playing well. I feel good out there."
Another tough lose for the Wild
Minnesota Wild Home Tickets for November:
November 18 vs Colorado 6:00 pm Buy Tickets ALT
November 21 vs Vancouver 8:00 pm Buy Tickets CPPV, FSNO
November 23 vs Columbus 2:00 pm Buy Tickets FSOH
November 28 vs Phoenix 8:00 pm Buy Tickets AZTV, KSTC
November 30 vs St. Louis 8:00 pm Buy Tickets FSMW, FSNO
