, and neither did the decision to sign Ben Gordon a

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Colorado overcame the loss of one of its most physical players after he was ejected late in the first period on Friday. Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists, Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 27 saves to set a franchise record with his sixth straight win to start a season, and the Colorado beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Friday. Jan Hejda and Nathan MacKinnon also scored for the Avs, who won for the fourth time in their past five games. "When you play well against the division, those are the points that are really going to matter in the end," Landeskog said. "Minnesotas been playing well lately, so for us to come in here and have the type of road game we did today, from start to finish, it builds our confidence for sure." Dany Heatley scored his fourth goal in six games for Minnesota and Zach Parise returned ahead of schedule from a foot injury. Parise -- Minnesotas leading scorer -- was supposed to be out 2 to 3 weeks after blocking a shot with his left foot on Monday, but skated during warmups and felt good enough to play. Despite Parises comeback, the Wild lost their third straight. After the game, Parise said his foot felt fine, but he wasnt happy with his teams play. "Played a soft hockey game. We turn the puck over," he said. "And once we started doing it right in the third period, we started getting some chances. "But we turn it over, we turn away from everybody, we make it pretty easy for them, and that slows us down. All of a sudden, we cant get any speed generated because we keep backchecking." Colorado scored on its first shot of the game when Hejdas shot from just inside the blue line sailed through traffic and past goalie Josh Harding at 3:45. Nobody else scored in the first, but Avs winger Cody McLeod was ejected after riding Jonas Brodin into the boards from behind and drawing a game misconduct. The Wild managed only one shot on the ensuing five-minute power play and fell behind 2-0 when MacKinnon tipped Landeskogs shot past Harding at 4:34 of the second. "We didnt give them much, and it was great to kill that one because obviously it couldve gone in their favour at some moment if they would score," Avs coach Patrick Roy said. Clinging to a one-goal lead, Colorado was outshot 16-5 in the final period, but held on thanks to a couple of key saves from Giguere. The goalie known as "Jiggy" turned away a prime scoring attempt from Keith Ballard from right in front of the net with 3 minutes left in the game. "We were expecting a push from them, and I thought they did a good job putting pucks to the net, but overall we didnt make too many big mistakes that would cost us a goal or the game," Giguere said. "Overall we should be pretty happy with a big road game." Landeskog scored into an empty net with 20 seconds to play. Minnesota and Colorado have developed a rivalry after meeting twice in the first round of the playoffs and playing each other for 12 seasons in the now-defunct Northwest Division. Fridays game was the first of five meetings this season between the two teams in the new Central Division. These two teams meet again on Saturday night in Colorado. Wild coach Mike Yeo said if his team wants a different result, it needs to get back to what it was doing earlier in the season. "It seems to take us a 2-0 deficit right now to find the urgency to be effective in the game," he said. "We seem to think that were pretty good and we dont need to do some of the things that brought us success, some of the things that we need to do to be successful. Hopefully were taking a lesson, were taking notes." NOTES: Former University of Minnesota star Erik Haula had an assist in his NHL debut for the Wild after being recalled from AHL Iowa. ... Colorados Paul Stastny missed his second consecutive game with back spasms. ... Wild centre Zenon Konopka left in the first period and didnt return after taking a puck to the left eye. Yeo said after the game that Konopka will not play Saturday. ... Minnesota designated forward Mike Rupp for non-roster status for personal reasons. ... Hejdas goal was his first since Oct. 27. Air Max 90 Nederland . -- A 25-year-old freelance journalist from British Columbia was formally charged on Thursday with a felony, five days after she was arrested in the United States over allegations she threatened to kill her hockey player boyfriend. Nike Air Max Goedkoop . -- The Sacramento Kings have signed first-round pick Nik Stauskas to his rookie contract. http://www.airmax90salenederland.com/ . -- Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the Dodgers starting pitchers in their two-game season-opening series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Air Max 90 Goedkoop . -- Canadas Nicole Vandermade won the Four Winds Invitational on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory. Nike Air Max Goedkoop Bestellen . Andrew Luck couldnt believe his ears. Colts fans couldnt believe the scoreboard, and the Kansas City Chiefs couldnt believe their incredibly bad luck.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Joe Dumars tried to push the Detroit Pistons back toward the playoffs with a couple of big moves last off-season. That didnt work, and now the Pistons will be hiring someone else to replace him. Detroit has decided not to renew Dumars contract as president of basketball operations, a person familiar with the situation said Sunday. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not made any announcement on Dumars future, says Dumars will remain with the Pistons as an adviser. Dumars was named the 2003 executive of the year, and the Pistons won the title the following season, adding the 2004 crown to the two they won when Dumars was a player. But Detroit hasnt made the playoffs since 2009, and the retooled Pistons flopped badly this season. Detroit has one of the games top young big men in Andre Drummond, but hes one of the franchises few bright spots at the moment. Owner Tom Gores must now hire a new general manager, and in the meantime, ownership executives Phil Norment and Bob Wentworth are expected to supervise preparations for the draft and free agency. Detroit signed Josh Smith and traded for Brandon Jennings last off-season in what seemed like a return to relevance, but the new-look roster lacked cohesion at times. Coach Maurice Cheeks was fired in February, and the Pistons are 29-52 with one game remaining. "I think overall we have a quality team as is," forward Kyle Singler said. "I dont know necessarily the formula to win, but we just werent able to get into a groove earlier on in the year to gain confidence and know that were a playoff team." Dumars began running the Pistons in 2000, and he made one shrewd move after another at first, acquiring Ben Wallace for Grant Hill in a sign-and-trade and sending Jerry Stackhouse to Washington for Richard p;Hamilton.dddddddddddd. He brought Rasheed Wallace to Detroit in another trade and signed Chauncey Billups as a free agent. Even a draft day blunder in 2003 — picking Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade with the No. 2 pick — seemed like an aberration when the Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals the following year. That title, however, is well in the past. The Pistons have played in front of sparse crowds in recent years, struggling to stay relevant in Detroit while the Tigers have drawn fans in droves to their downtown ballpark. In 2008, Dumars traded Billups in a deal that brought Allen Iverson to the Pistons. That move didnt work out, and neither did the decision to sign Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to big contracts during the 2009 off-season. Dumars and the Pistons also struggled to find the right coach. When Cheeks was hired before this season, he became Detroits ninth coach since 1999-2000. Immediately before Cheeks, Lawrence Frank and John Kuester lasted two seasons each, with little success. When Gores took over as owner after the 2010-11 season, the Pistons were undeniably in a rebuilding mode. Last off-season, Dumars had another chance to show he could guide the franchise back to contention. Instead, the Pistons have been one of the leagues most disappointing teams in 2013-14. Although Dumars is staying with the organization in some capacity, his departure as team president and general manager marks the end of an era. Drafted by the Pistons in 1985, Dumars spent his entire 14-year playing career with the franchise, winning NBA titles in 1989 and 1990. He was Detroits vice-president of player personnel during the 1999-2000 season before being promoted to president of basketball operations. AP Sports Writer Larry Lage contributed. ' ' '