Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves, Tyson Barrie, Tyson Jost and Ian Cole scored, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Tuesday night in St. Paul, Minn.

The Avalanche won their second in a row to tighten the Western Conference wild-card race. Colorado (32-29-12, 76 points) moved within a point of the Wild and within two points of Arizona. The Coyotes currently hold the second wild-card spot.

Zach Parise had a goal, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 35 shots for Minnesota. The Wild (34-31-9, 77 points) have lost two in a row, and they fell to 2-7-3 in their past 12 home games.

Jost broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period. Colin Wilson stole the puck at the top of the Colorado defensive zone and sent a stretch pass to Jost entering the Minnesota end with Ryan Suter trailing. Jost went in alone on Dubnyk and beat him with a backhander at 13:04. It was his 10th of the season.

Barrie gave Colorado a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Carl Soderberg had the puck below the goal and sent a soft pass into the slot. Barrie skated in and sent a slap shot at the net that beat Dubnyk on the far side at 10:31.

It was Barrie's 10th goal of the season and third in the past two games.

Parise tied it on the power play early in the second period. Suter had the puck at the point, skated to the middle and sent a shot wide of the net. Parise got his stick up and deflected it past Grubauer for his 26th goal at 1:52.

Grubauer was stellar in the third, making several saves. His best came at 12:01 of the frame when Luke Kunin sent a centering pass to Pontus Aberg in front of the net. Grubauer stretched to get a pad on the shot.

Dubnyk went off for an extra skater with 2:05 remaining, and 11 seconds later, Cole scored into the empty net to make it a two-goal game.

--Field Level Media