Wild 5, Avalanche 2: Zach Parise collected two goals and two assists while rookie Darcy Kuemper finished with 21 saves as Minnesota held serve by winning at home to force a pivotal Game 7 in its Western Conference first-round series.

Mikael Granlund also scored while Jason Pominville and defenseman Marco Scandella added empty-net tallies for the Wild, who won three home games in a playoff series for the first time in franchise history. The Central Division rivals travel to Colorado for Game 7 on Wednesday, with the winner squaring off against defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago in the next round.

Paul Stastny scored his team-leading fourth goal of the series and defenseman Nick Holden also tallied for the division-champion Avalanche, who claimed overtime victories at home in Games 1 and 5 as well as a 4-2 triumph in Game 2. Ryan O'Reilly notched two assists and Semyon Varlamov finished with 18 saves.

With the contest tied at 2-2, Wild captain Mikko Koivu settled a loose puck and promptly unleashed a blast from just inside the blue line. Parise fended off Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson and extended his stick to deflect the shot past Varlamov with 6:29 remaining in the third period. Colorado elected to pull the Russian goaltender for an extra skater with 2:44 left, but Pominville effectively sealed the win with his team's first empty-net goal.

With Minnesota looking to extend its 2-0 lead while on a 5-on-3 power play, Colorado turned the tide as Stastny exited the penalty box. O'Reilly wired a stretch pass to Stastny, who beat Kuemper on a breakaway with 3:01 remaining in the first period. Holden tapped home a centering feed from O'Reilly during a power play 4:47 into the second to forge a tie.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota D Ryan Suter and Koivu each had two assists. ... Colorado C Matt Duchene notched an assist on Holden's goal in his return to the lineup. Duchene, who logged 18:52 of ice time, missed the final eight contests of the regular season and the initial five of the series with a knee injury. ... Suter's wrist shot from deep in the right faceoff circle deflected off the leg of Parise in front and into the net 49 seconds into the contest to open the scoring. Parise's goal was the fastest to open a game in Wild franchise history, besting the mark set by Richard Park (3:20 into the first period versus Vancouver on May 5, 2003) ... Granlund extended his point streak to four games by scoring from the right circle at 9:35 of the first period.