The Colorado Avalanche came into the season with championship aspirations and Alexandar Georgiev as their top goaltender.

But Colorado’s offense came to life in a second period that turned out to be disastrous for the Wild.

Jonathan Drouin and Jack Drury scored 52 seconds apart in a three-goal second period and the Colorado Avalanche beat weary Minnesota 5-2 on Friday night to pull even with the third-place Wild in the Central Division.

The Avalanche has been active before the trade deadline, but could we see a splash like acquiring Sidney Crosby to pair with Nathan MacKinnon?

First Period_1, Minnesota, Zuccarello 13 (Johansson), 4:14. 2, Colorado, Nichushkin 12 (MacKinnon, Necas), 13:58 (pp). 3, Minnesota, Hinostroza 3 (Faber, Rossi), 17:42 (pp). Second Period_4, Colorado, Drouin 7 (Kylington), 8:57. 5, Colorado, Drury 6 (Colton, Makar), 9:49. 6, Colorado, Colton 14 (Kylington, Kiviranta), 14:39.

Thieves bested most Minnesota workers' efforts last year, downing 911 lines and costing the state millions. Officials believe new legislation will curb such thefts, but some recyclers believe solutions can be found in Houston.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups.

The same storm destined to bring a significant outbreak of severe weather in the southern and eastern United States, as well as flooding in the Northeast, will produce a swath of accumulating snow from the central Rockies to the Upper Midwest during the first week of March,