assisted on Granlunds goal at 12:51 that made it a one-score g

PHILADELPHIA - After sitting idle without a first-rounder in the NHL draft, one Ottawa Senators scout was thrilled to get to make some picks on Day 2. "The scouts were happy," general manager Bryan Murray said. "I think somebody shook my hand at the end." That wasnt the handshake Murray went into the weekend hoping for. And try as he did, he was unable to consummate a trade to give centre Jason Spezza his wish to leave Ottawa. "I called the teams or took calls from teams that were interested," Murray said Saturday. "We talked about the return, the type of deal we wanted to make. In a couple of cases there was real interest and it went away. So I dont know whether it was because of the draft and on the day of the draft picks are very valuable, whether that was part of it or it was something different." Murray wanted a first-round pick, a roster player and a prospect for his captain, who has a limited no-trade clause and thus the power to refuse to go to 10 teams. One of those 10 is Nashville, which had a deal worked out to get Spezza that couldnt go through because he didnt agree to go to the Predators. "David (Poile) talked to me and we couldnt go there," Murray said. "I told (Spezzas agent) Rick Curran that today, I had a deal sitting there if I wanted to do it, but he was on the list of no-gos." A Senators-Predators deal mightve landed Ottawa the 11th pick. Instead, Poile pulled the trigger on getting winger James Neal from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. Considering that and the Anaheim Ducks trade with the Vancouver Canucks for centre Ryan Kesler, Murray knows that "the field narrows a little bit." Murray estimated that he talked to four or five teams about Spezza and that three expressed fairly serious interest. It never worked out, leaving everyone in the situation still hanging. “Im sure its disappointing for him, its disappointing for me because Id like to accommodate him if I could, but he does have a year left on his contract," Murray said. "If thats the case well have a pretty good player for next year." Or its possible that teams circle back to the Senators after July 1 if they dont land Paul Stastny or another free-agent centre. As far as Ottawas approach to the start of free agency, thats affected by Spezza, too. "I dont know, thats the problem," Murray said. "Part of your decision is what can you spend, where does it fit and what do you get in return for a certain player? If you dont know that, then its harder." Unable to get anything done on the Spezza front, the Senators made five picks to stock up for the future. They took defenceman Andreas Englund 40th, defenceman Miles Gendron 70th, forward Shane Eiserman 100th, defenceman Kelly Summers 189th and left-winger Francis Perron 190th. The 189th pick, a seventh-rounder, Ottawa got from the Winnipeg Jets for a 2015 sixth-rounder. That was the only trade Murray was able to make in Philadelphia. "It just seemed to me there were a lot of phone calls, a lot of talking, people interested, but nothing really happened," he said. "I had to make one trade at the end, a seventh-round pick for the sixth next year just to say I did something. So that was my accomplishment." Black Friday Shoes Sale . 1 Caroline Wozniacki and three-time champion Serena Williams cruised into the semifinals, while last years runner-up Vera Zvonareva succumbed to Aussie Samantha Stosur in Thursdays womens quarterfinal action at the U. Wholesale Black Friday Shoes . But luckily for the Canadian squad, one goal was all it needed. 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DENVER -- Semyon Varlamov celebrated his new contract with another stellar performance in net. Varlamov had 35 saves, John Mitchell had a goal and an assist and the Colorado Avalanche edged the Minnesota Wild 5-4 on Thursday night. Matt Duchene had two assists for Colorado, which survived a flurry at the end to get the victory. Ryan OReilly, Paul Stastny, Nathan MacKinnon and Maxime Talbot also scored. It was quite a day for the 25-year-old Varlamov, who also finalized a five-year extension with Colorado that runs through the 2018-19 season. "It was a big day for us. Im sure its a great day for Varly as well," first-year coach Patrick Roy said. "He certainly deserved that contract. Were very happy its a done deal." The Avalanche acquired Varlamov from Washington in July 2011, and the Russian turned in a pair of inconsistent seasons under former coach Joe Sacco. He has flourished under the tutelage of Roy, a Hall of Fame goalie, and goaltender coach Francois Allaire, improving to 27-9-5 with Thursdays win. "Thank God the right people came to the team during the summer," Varlamov said. "Patrick, and especially Francois Allaire. Those guys helped me a lot. They changed my game." Colorado needed every bit of Varlamovs talent against Minnesota. He helped the Avalanche win the season series 4-0-1 and move nine points ahead of the Wild in the Central Division. Colorado has a firm grasp on third place and the final automatic playoff seed in the division. "It was a big game for us. We have three games in hand and were up (nine) points in the standings," Duchene said. "That puts us well ahead and we just have to keep taking care of business." Zach Parise had two goals and two assists and Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota, which went 9-4-1 in January to get into the thick of the post-season race. The Avalanche used a big second period to help cool off the Wild. Mitchell broke a 1-1 tie with his sixth goal of the season at 1:43. Stastny scored his 16th of the season on a rebound midway through the period, and Talbot used the stick of Wild centre Kyle Brodziak to make it 4-1 at 15:26.dddddddddddd Brodziak had gathered a rebound in front of goalie Darcy Kuemper when Talbot came in from behind and hit the centres stick to put the puck in the net. "We were so good the first two periods," Roy said. "Offensively this is the best Ive seen our team play. We were cycling the puck, moving it quick. We had tons of chances." A minute later, Niklas Backstrom replaced Kuemper, who had 19 saves. "I let him know it wasnt him," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "I did it to try to change the momentum at that point." "Kuemper played a pretty good game even though he got pulled. He made some amazing saves on us," Duchene said. "It could have been 6-, 7-1 if not for him." Backstrom had nine stops the rest of the way, giving the Wild a chance to get back into it. Parises goal at 7:47 of the third made it 4-2. He then assisted on Granlunds goal at 12:51 that made it a one-score game. MacKinnon appeared to seal the win with his 19th of the season at 17:35 but Pominville scored 11 seconds later. Backstrom went off for an extra skater with 1:07 left but the Wild couldnt get the equalizer. "When you get behind the 8-ball like we did, its tough to get back," Pominville said. "They are a good team for a reason." Colorado took a 1-0 lead on OReillys 20th of the season at 4:41 of the first and Parise tied in on the power play 1:35 later. The Avalanche had three power-play chances to break the tie in the first but couldnt capitalize. Brodziak nearly scored a short-handed goal but Varlamov made a save on the odd-man rush. NOTES: Stastny left in the third period with a leg injury and did not return. ... Avalanche RW P.A. Parenteau was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. Parenteau played in three games after missing 10 with a sprained left knee. ... Wild D Jared Spurgeon skated with the team Thursday. He has been on injured reserve since Jan. 4 with a foot injury. ' ' '