For the second time in less than two weeks, the Colorado Avalanche had a chance to gain ground on a wounded Minnesota Wild team. The first meeting was one of the best performances of the season for the Avalanche. What transpired Monday afternoon at Ball Arena would be much closer to the bottom of that list. Some of the issues that looked fixed two days ago in a decisive win against the Dallas Stars were again troubling for the Avs in a 3-1 loss to the Wild. “It was a struggle to create offense,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “A real struggle to create offense. … I didn’t think we gave up a lot of chances, but we didn’t get any chances, either.” Take Our Poll Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent for the first 40 minutes, and Nathan MacKinnon produced a world-class goal, but it was a long, frustrating day for the club otherwise. The Avs would have moved ahead of the Wild into third place in the Central Division with a win, but instead remain in fourth. The power play came up empty on three tries, and while Colorado had the final 11 shots on goal, it wasn’t enough to find another late-game comeback. “We’ve just got to find ways to capitalize,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “Up until the last 10 minutes, there wasn’t much urgency throughout. … We’ve got to make sure we find that early and play the whole game like that.” Colorado was fortunate to be even after 40 minutes, but Minnesota took control of this one with back-to-back goals early in the third. RELATED: How midseason shakeup changed the Avalanche locker room: “We’re closer as a group” Former Avalanche center Yakov Trenin gave the Wild the lead at 2:08 after a nice play by David Jiricek to set him up in the slot for a one-timer. Brock Faber, who didn’t play 11 days ago when Colorado beat this team, 6-1, at Xcel Energy Center, made it a two-goal lead at 3:43. That play started with Juuso Parssinen’s dump-in being intercepted and turned back into an offensive possession for the Wild. Ryan Hartman found Faber at the top of the zone, and he went to the net unchecked before beating Blackwood with a shot. The Avs didn’t generate a lot of offense in the opening 38 minutes, but MacKinnon crafted one of the best goals of the season late in the second to get Colorado on the board. MacKinnon started the sequence by blocking a shot in his own zone, then carrying the puck to the other end. He peeled off above the right circle, sending Jake Middleton flailing out of the play. After a pass to Samuel Girard, MacKinnon got the puck back in the high slot, deked by Trenin and then snapped a shot past Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 1:08 remaining in the second. It was MacKinnon’s 18th goal of the season and league-leading 74th point. It was also one of MacKinnon’s most animated celebrations of the campaign. Before MacKinnon’s highlight-reel play, the Avs were only within one goal because of Blackwood. Minnesota outshot Colorado 22-11 across the opening two periods, and Blackwood made two of the best saves of this season by a goalie to keep Colorado close. Related Articles Colorado Avalanche | How midseason shakeup changed the Avalanche locker room: “We’re closer as a group” Colorado Avalanche | Keeler: Avalanche, please don’t make Nuggets’ mistakes. Pay Mikko Rantanen. Help Cale Makar. Don’t break up the band. 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With Minnesota on the power play in the second period, Marco Rossi set up Joel Eriksson in the slot with a great pass while falling down, but Blackwood’s glove save on the ensuing one-timer was even better. “(Blackwood) played an awesome game tonight,” Makar said. “We’ve got to help him out more.” While the Avs have had an incredible number of injury issues this season, the Wild were missing their best player, MVP candidate Kirill Kaprizov, and two of their three best defensemen (Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin) in this contest. “(The Wild) are going to play to the inside and they’re going to pack it in the house. Their numbers against screens, deflections and rebounds aren’t great,” Bednar said. “Well, we had (11) shots after two periods when part of the message was we’ve got to unload it from everywhere. “Some nights, I feel like everyone is in tune and we’re following (the game plan) to a ‘T.’ Tonight, we didn’t really do that.” FOOTNOTES: MacKinnon and Cale Makar were named to the Avalanche’s quarter-century team, the NHL announced Monday. They were joined on the first team by Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote and Patrick Roy. Captain Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen were named to the second team. The voting panel included a group of broadcasters, writers and select former players. Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.