DENVER (AP) ¡ª For a brief moment Vincent Trocheck Jersey , the Minnesota Wild lost track of the super speedy Nathan MacKinnon.That¡¯s all it took. MacKinnon had a tap-in goal off a nifty pass from Mikko Rantanen to give Colorado the lead, Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and the Avalanche beat the Wild 4-1 on Thursday night in the opener for both teams.¡°His vision is awesome,¡± MacKinnon said of his linemate. ¡°I just drove the net and Mikko made a great play.¡±Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk didn¡¯t have much of a chance on MacKinnon¡¯s second-period goal that gave Colorado a 2-1 advantage. Rantanen skated down the left side and sent a pass through a sea of sticks to MacKinnon, who tapped it in before Dubnyk had a chance to fully turn his head.¡°He was in a good place and he made a good play,¡± Dubnky said.Wild coach Bruce Boudreau offered another explanation.¡°It¡¯s MacKinnon. He¡¯s going to get a lot of goals like that,¡± Boudreau said.MacKinnon picked up right where he left off from last season, when he tallied 39 goals and 58 assists on his way to finishing second in the Hart Trophy vote. He led the team in shots Thursday with eight. Carl Soderberg scored, while Rantanen and J.T. Compher added empty-net goals for the Avalanche, who moved to 15-5-3 in home openers since moving to town from Quebec.Varlamov returned to net after missing the playoffs last season with a knee injury he suffered late in the regular season. He made his eighth opening-night start in a burgundy-and-blue sweater Adrian Kempe Jersey , surpassing Patrick Roy for the most by an Avalanche goaltender. This also was Varlamov¡¯s 400th career NHL game.¡°He¡¯s grown so much as a goalie,¡± MacKinnon said. ¡°His mindset is he can play a low-shot game and stay sharp, and he was great.¡±Colorado thought it had a two-goal lead when Colin Wilson scored 1:36 into the third after knocking in a puck out of the air. The goal was reviewed and disallowed after it was determined Wilson¡¯s left glove batted the puck in.No matter, Varlamov protected things with save after save. None bigger than stopping an Eric Staal wrist shot with his right shoulder on a 2-on-1 with just under 5 minutes remaining.Rantanen added an empty-net goal with 1:53 remaining and Compher another in the waning seconds to seal the victory.Colorado outshot the Wild 40-21. Zach Parise gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead on a backhand pass from Mikko Koivu early in the first period. Parise missed the opening 39 games a season ago due to a back ailment that required surgery. After steadily working his way back into form, Parise suffered a broken sternum in the playoffs.Minnesota is coming off a season in which it posted 101 points before losing to Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs.¡°There was some sloppiness that¡¯s not going to be seen in game 20,¡± Boudreau said. ¡°Pucks bouncing over the sticks and over-skating the puck and things of that nature. ¡­ I think they did know how quick the pace was going to be, faster than the preseason, but took us a while to get up to it.¡±As for the Avalanche, general manager Joe Sakic has modest goals this season after his team returned to the postseason for the first time since 2013-14. Their average age this season is 26.3. They ended last season at 25.8.¡°Our goal is to make the playoffs http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-mathew-bar zal-jersey , but the most important thing for us is to see the growth of this group,¡± Sakic said. ¡°We¡¯re excited to see who makes that next jump.¡±NOTES: Wild F Marcus Foligno was tripped by D Tyson Barrie late in the second period. Foligno went to the bench favoring his left leg but returned a few minutes later. ¡­ F Vladislav Kamenev (lower body) and D Anton Lindholm (upper body) were taken off injured reserve and reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. ¡­ Avs F Sheldon Dries made his NHL debut. He had two shots. ¡­ Soderberg also had an assist.UP NEXT:Minnesota: Starts a three-game homestand Saturday against Las Vegas.Colorado: Hosts Philadelphia on Saturday. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ¡ª William Nylander can¡¯t make up for lost time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. That¡¯s not going to stop the right wing from trying.He had a pair of assists and was active all over the ice Tuesday night in Toronto¡¯s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.¡°I¡¯m just trying to get back as fast as possible,¡± Nylander said.The assists were the first two points of the season for the fourth-year forward. He missed training camp, the preseason and the first 28 regular-season games while holding out for a new contract. He signed a six-year deal worth $41.7 million on Dec. 1, and Tuesday marked his third game back with Toronto.Tyler Ennis, Morgan Rielly, Patrick Marleau and John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for the third time in four road games. Frederik Andersen made 29 saves.Justin Williams scored for the injury-depleted Hurricanes http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-nick-leddy -jersey , who lost for the fourth time in five games.The Maple Leafs (21-9-1) started the night with the second-most points in the Eastern Conference. They made do without Nylander, who scored at least 20 goals in each of the previous two seasons.Nylander didn¡¯t have a point in his first two games back, both losses for Toronto. But he helped set up Rielly¡¯s go-ahead goal in the second period and then fed Marleau for a pretty 2-on-1 finish in the third.¡°Every game is getting better and better,¡± Nylander said.A little rust and learning curve was expected by his teammates.¡°He played no preseason games and he¡¯s playing against guys who are in midseason form,¡± Rielly said. ¡°It¡¯s a tough situation to come into, but he has done a great job. He has worked very hard. He¡¯s happy to be back and we¡¯re happy to have him back.¡±With their top-end talent, the Maple Leafs overwhelmed Carolina. They had a 13-3 advantage in shots through the first half of the first period and dominated the opening stanza. Ennis flipped in a loose rebound for a 1-0 lead at 8:35.A double-minor penalty for high-sticking on Nylander in the first slowed some of Toronto¡¯s momentum. The Maple Leafs were able to kill off the penalty but couldn¡¯t build on their early lead.Williams was able to beat Andersen for a power-play goal at 12:44 in the second period to tie it at 1.The Hurricanes played without center Jordan Staal (concussion) for the second straight game. Top scorer Michael Ferland, who missed the previous four games with a concussion, didn¡¯t make it out of the first period. He missed the final two periods with what the team called an upper-body injury.¡°We were playing one of the best offensive teams in the league and we needed everyone on board http://www.floridapanthersteamshops.com/authentic-james-reim er-jersey ,¡± Carolina coach Rod Brind¡¯Amour said.Rielly broke the tie at 13:51 of the second, only 67 seconds after Williams¡¯ goal, with a pass that went past Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek (25 saves) and off the stick of one of his own defensemen.Rielly was trying to feed Andreas Johnsson but Carolina¡¯s Dougie Hamilton got his stick on the puck and pushed it past Mrazek.Nylander stretched Toronto¡¯s lead in the third period. He set up Marleau for an easy finish of a 2-on-1 break at 5:49.Tavares added a goal at 8:29 in the third, his team-best 19th of the season.Toronto coach Mike Babcock said the team will be patient with Nylander as he tries to get up to full speed.¡°It¡¯s going to take him time,¡± Babcock said.Nylander, however, is already finding a way to help.NOTES: The Hurricanes were just happy to be home safely after a three-game road trip. Their charter plane had to make an emergency landing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, early Saturday morning on the way back from a 4-1 win at Anaheim. The team and flight personnel could smell smoke in the cabin. The plane eventually returned safely to Raleigh. ¡°I¡¯ve never been through anything quite like that http://www.hurricanesshoponline.com/authentic-jeff-skinner-j ersey ,¡± Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook told the Raleigh News & Observer. ¡°Whenever you smell smoke you get a little worried. We went down pretty quick from whatever, 35,000 feet, and landed pretty fast. Check that one off the bucket list, I guess.¡±UP NEXTMaple Leafs: Play at Tampa Bay on Thursday.Hurricanes: Play at Montreal on Thursday.