Wild 5, Avalanche 0: Zach Parise recorded a goal and two assists as host Minnesota scored four times in the second period en route to an easy season-opening victory over Colorado.

Defenseman Ryan Suter and Jason Pominville each scored a goal and set up another while Nino Nieterreiter and blue-liner Jared Spurgeon also tallied for Minnesota, which outshot Colorado 48-16. Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves en route to his third career shutout and Mikael Granlund recorded a pair of assists.

Colorado's Semyon Varlamov (33 saves), who set a franchise record with 41 victories last season, was pulled after two periods with the Wild leading 5-0. The defending Central Division-champion Avalanche finished 14 points ahead of Minnesota in 2013-14 before losing in seven games in their first-round playoff series.

Pominville opened the scoring at 14:54 of the first period, when he knocked home the juicy rebound of Granlund's shot after Suter started the play with a long pass from his end line. Minnesota, which outshot the Avalanche 17-5 in the opening session and 21-8 in the second, scored four goals in a 12:21 span of the middle period - starting when Spurgeon sneaked in from the blue line and beat the backcheck of Alex Tanguay before taking a feed from Parise and beating Varlamov.

With the teams skating 4-on-4, Granlund pushed a faceoff forward into the offensive zone before Parise picked up the puck and scored on his own rebound. The Wild extended their lead as Niederreiter scored from close range after Varlamov failed to cover a loose puck near the crease, and Suter completed the onslaught when he took a feed from Parise and stepped into a shot from the slot to easily beat the beleaguered goaltender with 3:02 remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: LW Thomas Vanek, a former University of Minnesota standout who averaged 30 goals during his first nine NHL seasons, made his Wild debut and recorded two shots in 15:38 of ice time. ... RW Jarome Iginla, who is tied with Guy Lafleur for 24th on the career goals list with 560, played 18:11 and did not record a shot or a hit in his first game with the Avalanche. ... G Reto Berra stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period for Colorado.