DENVER — For 20 minutes Thursday night, it had the feel of a heavyweight fight.

Gloves up. Crowd buzzing. Every shift answered. The Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild traded chances like two teams fully aware of what was at stake. It was tight, it was fast, and it carried the tension of a game that seemed destined to hinge on one moment of brilliance — or one costly mistake.

And then the second period arrived.

What followed wasn’t a continuation of playoff-style hockey. It was a parade — a parade of penalties — that flipped a composed, competitive game upside down inside Ball Arena.

The temperature changed. Whistles multiplied. Routine contact became infractions. And instead of adjusting to the moment, Colorado compounded the problem. A five-on-five chess match turned into a special teams showcase — just not the kind the Avalanche wanted.

Afterward, head coach Jared Bednar didn’t mince words.

"We took six (penalties)," he stated. "Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs. I thought the PK did an okay job. We got some big saves from (Mackenzie Blackwood) on the PK, but six penalties is too much. 

"We had a slow start to the second and just kind of started getting going and then took a bunch of penalties and swung (the momentum) back in their favor. Tonight, discipline, penalties had a big factor in the game for me."

Discipline unraveled in a 53-second stretch that felt like it belonged in a video game with the penalty sliders maxed out. It’s rare to see three minors assessed that quickly in an NHL game. Colorado managed it.

At 14:15, Gabriel Landeskog was called for elbowing. At 15:04, Valeri Nichushkin was whistled for cross-checking, putting the Avalanche on a 5-on-3 penalty kill for 1:11 — difficult, but survivable.

"That (tilted) the ice for sure," the Avs captain told reporters. "It just gives them unnecessary momentum especially after we just tied it up and we felt like we started tilting the ice. On discipline, we got to be better there for sure."

Then came the insult to injury.

Just four seconds after the puck dropped on the two-man disadvantage, Brent Burns inadvertently fired the puck over the glass from his own zone, drawing an automatic delay-of-game penalty. What followed was a layered and confusing sequence that left Colorado defending three active minors while navigating the NHL’s staggered penalty clock rules.

Because the penalties overlapped, Burns’ two-minute minor did not begin immediately. It was effectively placed in queue behind Landeskog’s. When Landeskog exited at 16:15, Burns’ penalty officially started. By the time Nichushkin’s minor expired, Burns still had significant time remaining — despite the fact his infraction occurred just four seconds after Nichushkin’s.

The Avalanche penalty kill — one of the league’s best — battled. For a stretch, it held. But extended penalty kills wear down even elite units. Eventually, the dam broke. Minnesota capitalized, and Joel Eriksson Ek buried two power-play goals in the period. The 2–1 lead the Wild seized during that chaos became control of the game.

To be fair, Colorado believed there were opportunities the other way that went uncalled. But in truth, it likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome. The Avalanche power play continued its season-long inconsistency, finishing 0-for-3. Minnesota’s defensive structure did the rest, sealing shooting lanes, forcing perimeter attempts, and funneling chances into low-percentage angles.

By the third period, Colorado wasn’t just chasing the Wild — it was chasing its own mistakes. Fatigue crept in on the second half of a back-to-back. And a shorthanded goal allowed in the third period served as the final twist. It marked the Avalanche’s 10th shorthanded goal surrendered this season — the most in the NHL — an alarming statistic for a team with championship aspirations.

For one period, it was controlled and tactical.

For the next 40 minutes, it was self-inflicted chaos.

"I didn't think we were at our best tonight," Bednar added. "There was some things I liked, but probably too much I didn't like. One of them was the discipline and the penalties we took."

And against a disciplined, opportunistic opponent, that was more than enough to turn a winnable game into a 5–2 loss.