Matt Boldy’s 4-point effort steers Wild past Avalanche

Matt Boldy had two empty-net goals and added two assists, Joel Eriksson Ek also scored twice and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 in Denver on Thursday night.

Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for Minnesota, which has won six in a row and tightened the race in the Central Division. Mats Zuccarello also scored, and Kirill Kaprizov had two assists.

Colorado leads the NHL with 85 points and the Wild have 80, tied for second most in the league.

Martin Necas had two goals...