ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Few NHL teams are playing as well as Minnesota the past few weeks. Few goaltenders are as hot as the Wild's Devan Dubnyk.

Both the Wild and Dubnyk extended those trends Tuesday against Colorado, finally besting the Avalanche for the first time in three tries this season. Dubnyk recorded his NHL-best fifth shutout of the season as the Wild topped Colorado 2-0 for their eighth consecutive win.

Charlie Coyle and Mikko Koivu scored for Minnesota (19-8-4), and Dubnyk stopped all 18 shots he faced to stymie the struggling Avalanche (11-19-1).

"We want to keep this streak going here," Coyle said. "It's been our best hockey, and we want to push these guys back down. We want to keep them there and kind of distance ourselves back up in the standings. We need these points right now."

For as good as Minnesota has been this year, beating the Avalanche was something the Wild hadn't achieved prior to Tuesday. Minnesota lost a pair of one-goal games against division foe Colorado before hitting its stride en route to its current eight-game winning streak.

Minnesota hasn't lost since Dec. 2 and boasts the second-longest active win streak in the NHL behind Columbus (10 games). Tuesday's loss was the fourth in a row for the Avalanche, who have won only twice in their past 13 games.

The Wild spoiled Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov's return to the ice. Varlamov missed Colorado's previous three games with a groin injury but surrendered a goal in each of the game's first two periods. He finished with 31 saves.

When the Avalanche bested the Wild in their previous two meetings, it was Calvin Pickard in net for Colorado.

The Wild peppered Varlamov early and often Tuesday. The Colorado netminder faced 27 shots through two periods. Minnesota's first goal came at 14:14 of the first period when Coyle collected a rebound in front of the net and fired to beat Varlamov on a power play.

At 8:21 in the second, Koivu made it 2-0 when he crashed the net and guided the puck past Varlamov for his eighth goal of the season.

Colorado put just three shots on net in the third period and was 0-for-5 on the power play -- and 0-for-4 with the man advantage in the final period.

"That was awful," Avalanche forward Matt Duchene said of the power play. "That was a big part of our third period pretty much fizzling out and not being a good period for us."

Dubnyk didn't face a ton of pressure Tuesday, but he was solid when he did. The shutout was his first since Nov. 17. He surrendered four total goals in his two previous games against Colorado this season.

"I just trust so much what they're doing in front of me," Dubnyk said. "They're letting me see shots when I need to see them. When there is rebounds, they are clearing them out, and it just allows me to be patient and be comfortable with knowing what's available and what's not."

To make matters worse for the Avalanche, Duchene collided with teammate Patrick Wiercioch while going for the puck in open ice in the third period. Wiercioch and Duchene were slow to get up, but both players were ultimately fine.

It was that kind of night for the Avalanche, who couldn't manage much against one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

"We're still losing games, which is frustrating," Varlamov said. "We had momentum in the second period when we were close to scoring a goal, but we didn't score.

"We've lost four in a row. It's embarrassing."

NOTES: Wild F Pat Cannone made his NHL debut Tuesday at age 30. He recorded two shots on goal 9:11 of ice time and won 5 of 7 in the faceoff circle. Cannone is the second-oldest player in Minnesota history to make his NHL debut. Only Lubomir Sekeras (31) was older when he played his first NHL game as a member of the Wild. ... Colorado F Carl Soderberg appeared in his 200th consecutive game, the team's longest active streak. ... Minnesota F Erik Haula missed Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury. Wild D Christian Folin was also scratched Tuesday. ... F Andreas Martinsen and Eric Gelinas were scratched for Colorado. ... The Wild announced during Tuesday's game that they recalled F Jordan Schroeder from the Iowa Wild. Schroeder led the Wild's AHL affiliate in scoring with 18 points in 25 games.