The Minnesota Wild got a single goal from Victor Bartley, but couldn’t keep what the Avalanche sent to St. Paul from scoring four. The Wild and Avs played a sloppy game in which Colorado was able to spoil the pre-season home opener and the pre-season debut of Eric Staal in a Minnesota Wild sweater.
The game was back and forth in the first period. Not so much in the way of firewagon hockey with a multitude of chance either way, but the the puck was moving up and down the rink a lot. The best chance of the period, maybe the game for Minnesota, came on a 2-on-1 when Tyler Gravoac got stopped by starting goalie Jeremy Smith.