Avalanche 3, Wild 1: Top overall pick Nathan MacKinnon’s first goal in six games was the difference for visiting Colorado in the opener of a home-and-home series with Minnesota.

Captain Gabriel Landeskog scored a goal and set up two others, MacKinnon added an assist and defenseman Jan Hejda also tallied for the Avalanche, who improved to 9-2-0 in road contests. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 27 saves in his first start since Nov. 14.

Dany Heatley had the lone reply with his fourth goal in six games for the Wild, who will face the Avalanche again Saturday in Colorado. Josh Harding stopped 18 shots in his first home loss of the season.

Hejda opened the scoring with his first goal since Oct. 27, firing a shot from the point through traffic 3:45 into the game. MacKinnon redirected Landeskog’s shot 4:34 into the second to extend the advantage but Heatley trimmed the lead to 2-1 with 4:58 remaining in the period.

Giguere preserved the lead with 16 saves in the third period, including a couple of key stops on defensemen Keith Ballard and Jared Spurgeon with four minutes left in the contest. Landeskog deposited the empty-netter with 20 seconds remaining to seal the win.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Harding entered the game with a 10-0-0 home record. … Wild LW Zach Parise, who was expected to miss at least two weeks with a foot injury, was in the lineup and recorded four shots in 23:03 of ice time. … Colorado LW Cody McLeod was ejected from the game for checking D Jonas Brodin into the boards from behind late in the first period. … Minnesota LW Erik Haula recorded an assist in his NHL debut.