ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Wild could not have started the season stronger.This game was so good they found themselves acknowledging afterward they probably wont be able to repeat it.Zach Parise scored one of the Wilds four goals in the second period and assisted on two others, helping them overwhelm Semyon Varlamov and the Colorado Avalanche 5-0 Thursday night.We caught Colorado on an off night. Lets be honest: Theyre a much better team than that, Parise said.The franchise-record 48 shots on goal and the fourth career shutout for goalie Darcy Kuemper were nice, sure, but the Wild were already sounding a little anxious about having to face the Avalanche again two days later in Denver.To sit here and expect us to go and play 82 games like that, its not going to happen. And I can tell you, to play two games like that, its not going to happen, Wild coach Mike Yeo said. Were going to have to be ready for a different game. Thats still a very good hockey team. Thats still a team that won the division over there.For the Avalanche, coming off a franchise-record 52 wins, this was a stunningly flat start. They had four power plays and didnt put a single shot on net, finishing with just 16 for the game.Competing was the word that was missing in our game. We didnt engage. We avoided every battle. They were faster on every puck than we were, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said.Jason Pominville scored in the first period on one of Mikael Granlunds two assists and helped set up a goal by Jared Spurgeon in the second. Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Suter scored, too, prompting chants of Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! from the fired-up overflow crowd.Varlamov, who gave up five goals on 38 shots, was replaced by Reto Berra for the third period.Varly played great. There were a lot of point-blank chances that we know we cant give up, said right wing Jarome Iginla, the all-time leading scorer against the Wild who didnt attempt a shot.The Avalanche will surely be ready to redeem themselves in the rematch.Thats a tough game, but its nice that we dont have to wait too long. We get a chance to be a lot better than we were tonight, Iginla said.The end-to-end dominance by the Wild was reminiscent of Games 3 and 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinal in April, when they outshot the Avalanche 78-34 to even the best-of-seven matchup they went on to win in overtime at Colorado in the decisive game.Except this time, the Wild turned those scoring chances into flashing red lights behind the net.Suter set up the first goal with a long lead pass that bounced beautifully off the boards to Granlund, whose shot off the rush was denied by Varlamov but became a rebound for Pominville to poke in.Then the Wild really poured it on after the first intermission. Parise was all over the ice as usual, jockeying with Jan Hejda for position to knock in the rebound of his own shot to put the Wild up 3-0 during a 4-on-4.Ryan Carter and Erik Johnson were given simultaneous roughing penalties for a scuffle around the Wild net that left Carter, who just signed with his home-state team this week, with a bloodied forehead and nose.But that was about all the fight the Avalanche showed on this night.The Wild improved to 12-0-2 in home openers. They had a tie in 2000, their inaugural game at Xcel Energy Center, and lost in a shootout last year.With 11 players in their 20-man lineup age 24 or younger, theres plenty left to prove, but with the poise and polish of leaders like Parise, Suter and Pominville, there are building blocks in place for a legitimate contender in a competitive conference.Granlund is centring the Parise-Pominville line, and they were cycling around the offensive zone so fast that Carter joked he was dizzy watching from the bench.Theyve got some of the faster guys in the league on their team, but it seemed like we were in their face through the neutral zone, Parise said. Thats five guys playing together. Its a good sign.Yeo has never been afraid to shuffle his lines, but that might be hard to do with this group.Thats a very confident group. Theyve got a lot of chemistry together and they read off each other very well a€” in all aspects of the game, too, Yeo said. Fake NBA Jerseys 2019 . Wiggins, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward who plays his first exhibition game on Wednesday against Pitt State, was the top prospect in the class of 2013. Fake Nike NBA Jerseys . The defeat leaves the 41-year-old Nestor to concentrate on the mixed-doubles event after winning 12 straight matches and winning Australian titles in Brisbane and Sydney with two different partners. "This was a little bit of a let down, but all credit to them," said Nestor. http://www.fakenbajerseys.com/. - Doug Kalitta led Top Fuel qualifying Friday in the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway with a 3. Discount Fake NBA Jerseys . Adding playoff teams. Monitoring instant replay from league headquarters. Possibly creating a set of guidelines to prevent locker-room bullying. Fake NBA Jerseys Online .J. -- The NHL reduced its penalty against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday for signing Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, Everyone does it, everyone knows it happens but what can referees to stop the delaying tactics used by teams after an icing call? In the first period between Vancouver and Buffalo on Sunday, Buffalo iced the puck and suddenly Zenon Konopka needed a new stick. However, it took the equipment manager about 30-40 seconds trying to find one and gave the team a quick rest. When he finally got near the faceoff dot, the linesman did a quick drop of the puck and the Canucks eventually scored off the resulting play. I know the Canucks sometimes will send in a winger to purposely get waved out to get a breather, but how long do referees give a team before they are able to give a delay of game penalty? Do they have to warn the team first? Gareth Gareth: Even though it is within the referees authority to assess a minor penalty once a player or team deliberately delays the game following an icing, I can think of far more appropriate situations for a referee to flex his muscles and assess a penalty. As you admit Gareth, everyone does it and everyone knows it happens. A warning would typically have to be issued before a delay of game penalty would be assessed in this situation. When Zenon Konopka felt it necessary to change his stick (for whatever reason) following the Sabres icing infraction the referee was caught between a rock and a hard place and must allow the player to obtain a replacement. Can you imagine the nuclear fallout for the ref, following the Canuck goal, if Konopka had been denied the change and his stick had broken on the ensuing face-off? Forcing Knopka to grab any old replacement off the bench other than his own pattern could also set the ref up for some abuse. In the course of a game there are times when a referee must dig his skates in and take a hard-line position but I believe a ref should pick his battles wisely and with good purpose. In my opinion, a slow face-off following an icing isnt typically worth throwing the gauntlet down. That being said, one thing that any referee has little tolerance for is to be publicly embarrassed and played for a fool. What I didnt much care for, as I watched this apparent "sheell game" being play out at the Buffalo bench, were the snickers and laughter that took place at the referees expense.dddddddddddd The equipment managers and training staff for the Buffalo Sabres are very professional in their duties; as are all NHL team equipment personnel. To believe that a players stick wasnt available in the rack just isnt within the realm of possibility. Gareth, let me suggest one possible way to deter a team from abusing rule 81.4—line changes on icing. My approach would have to laugh right along with them right up to the end of the little charade when Zenon Konopka was finally handed his replacement stick and before he sprinted to the face-off dot with a grin. At that point I would issue Coach Ted Nolan an "official warning" that any undue delay by him or his players on a future icing would result in bench minor penalty. I would be sure to say it with a smile on my face but there would be little doubt that the gauntlet had been dropped! You might also be curious Gareth (like me) as to why a lengthy rest delay was even required by the Sabres fourth line on just their fourth shift of the game; if in fact that was the intention of Zenon Konopka and the Sabres bench staff. Heres the interesting breakdown for you. The Sabres fourth line, comprised of Zenon Konopka, John Scott and Nicolas Deslauriers, had played a total of one minute and seventeen seconds (1:17) in three well spaced shifts prior to their fourth shift when the icing infraction was called. Their third shift lasted only 20 seconds and was followed by over two minutes of rest on the bench. The fouth line then changed on the fly and skated for 21 seconds prior to a 25 second breather before play resumed following a Canuck end zone face-off. Once the puck was dropped, they skated for another 13 seconds before the whistle blew for the icing call. I dont think these finely tuned athletes would have been all that fatigued considering my unofficial ice-tracker stats. If locating a missing stick at the Sabres bench is truly a ploy to slow things down after an icing, perhaps they should pick their spot more wisely and utilize it when players really are fatigued. In any event, this play should now be "one and done!" The gauntlet has been dropped I hope. ' ' '