The Wild are bringing Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back from injuries as the NHL season reaches the home stretch.

For the second time in less than two weeks, the Colorado Avalanche had a chance ... and two of their three best defensemen (Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin) in this contest.

The Minnesota Wild feel a sense of urgency despite having nearly half a season left to play. After losing three in a row and four of their last five games, the Wild will look to turn things around on Monday afternoon against the host Colorado Avalanche in Denver.

Without Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota played a smart, poised and gutsy game, pulling away in the third for a 3-1 victory at Ball Arena.

Here are three takeaways from the Wild's 3-1 road win over Colorado. The Minnesota Wild (28-15-4) walked away with an impressive road win over the Colorado Avalanche (28-19-1) on Monday. If they would have lost, Minnesota would've dropped to a Wild Card spot.

Yakov Trenin and Brock Faber scored goals 1:35 apart early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 in Denver on Monday.

Artturi Lehkonen scored the tiebreaking goal with 14.7 seconds left and Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the New York Rangers 5-4

Wild: Without some key players, including captain Jared Spurgeon and leading scorer ... They improved to an NHL-best 17-5-3 on the road. Avalanche: Colorado continued to struggle on the power ...

Yakov Trenin scored against his former team early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday.

Some of the issues that looked fixed two days ago in a decisive win against the Dallas Stars were again troubling for the Colorado Avalanche in a loss to the Minnesota Wild.

Wild: Without some key players, including captain Jared Spurgeon and leading scorer ... They improved to an NHL-best 17-5-3 on the road. Avalanche: Colorado continued to struggle on the power ...

Given that the Minnesota Wild are expected to activate forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon before tomorrow’s game against the Utah Hockey Club, at least one player needed to come off the roster.