ST. PAUL, Minn. —  Those big, bad Avalanche bullies now have Minnesota’s arse in a sling – no ifs, ands or butt-endings about it.

This 5-2 victory in the NHL playoffs was delivered with the force of a knockout blow.

From the jump, the Avs came out swinging. Literally. And if you ask Avs defenseman Josh Manson, a dude like Wild pest Michael McCarron has a very punchable face. 

“Did I want to punch him in the head?” Manson said. “I did want to punch him in the head.”

Minnesota calls itself the State of Hockey, but the Wild messed around Monday and found out: Don’t mess with Colorado.

“We really wanted this ,” said defenseman Cale Makar, after the Avs took a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, leaving the Wild wobbling on the jagged edge of elimination.

For the first time in this Stanley Cup run, the playoff intensity was turnt up to 11. The old hockey barn was rockin’ so hot that I swear there was smoke on the water of the nearby Mississippi River.

When Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon took a puck to the schnoz, there was blood on the ice. And Minnesota accused the Avs of thuggery.

But in Avalanche lore, one weirdly iconic moment will forever define Game 4.

“I think that’s what you try to find out within a playoff series: Can you get to the other guys on the other side? Are they going to show any weakness? Or are they going to stick with it?” Colorado captain Gabe Landeskog told me at the morning skate before a showdown with a must-win vibe for both teams.

“It’s competitive. Guys want it bad. And to be honest, I don’t think you really know what those emotional ups and downs throughout a series are until it’s all over. When a series is over, you can look back and say: ‘That moment meant a lot. It sparked something.’”

When the Avs are riding a Rocky Mountain high at the championship parade in June, the moment we will look back on that sparked this glorious run into overdrive will be as obvious as the blunt end of a hockey stick.

Having borne witness to nearly 250 Avalanche playoff games since 1996, I’ve seen some unforgettable stuff, from Claude Lemieux violently making puzzle pieces of Kris Draper’s face to Joe Sakic graciously handing the Stanley Cup to Ray Bourque. But until this spring night in Minnesota, I’ve never, ever jotted this phrase in my notebook:

Butt-ending.

Butt-ending? Sounds barbaric. Like a poison cocktail mixed by Arya Stark in “Game of Thrones.”

Manson, healthy and back on the ice in an Avs sweater for the first time in over two weeks, made a banger of a return.

A little more than 7 minutes into the opening period, Manson did not take kindly to being ridden into the ground with a WWE takedown by McCarron

Attempting to extricate himself from under the wet blanket of McCarron’s sweater, Manson decided to MacGyver a solution to his predicament, and used the butt end of his stick like a pool cue to the jugular of the Wild man laying on him.

Was it an ingenious bit of self-defense?

Absolutely.

Dirty pool?

No doubt.

After halting the action for a video review, officials slapped Manson with a four-minute, double minor penalty for attempted hockey manslaughter.

“He’s a dirty player. He’s always been,” McCarron told ESPN during an intermission interview. “Surprised he got away with only a four-minute (penalty). I’m happy he’s still in the game.”

That harsh accusation was met with a snappy retort from Manson.

“You call me a dirty player, just look at my history. I’ve spent 13 years (in the league) and haven’t been suspended yet. Obviously, I’m not that dirty,” Manson, who admitted it wasn’t the cleanest play.

“It wasn’t my intention to butt-end him in the face; it was more trying to smack him in the head.”

With Manson in the sin bin, the Wild took a 1-0 lead when Danila Yurov redirected a bomb from Brock Faber at the point and watched the puck fly past Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.

That revolting turn of events could’ve been the undoing of a championship pretender.

But after looking like accidental tourists on a busman’s holiday during a lopsided loss in Game 3, the Avs responded to the tough love coach Jared Bednar gave them for their lack of competitive zeal.

Despite learning before puck drop that forward winger Artturi Lehkonen and defenseman Sam Malinski weren’t fit to go, the Avs’ aggression consistently tilted the ice in their favor. With the calm assurance of a champion, Colorado withstood a desperate push by Minnesota in the third period, with a sweet goal that proved to be the game-winner scored by fourth-line forward Parker Kelly.

While I questioned his decision to bench goalie Scott Wedgewood, let me be the first to stand and loudly applaud Bednar’s decision to give the net back to Blackwood, who stoned 19 of Minnesota’s 21 shots.

“I don’t think we had any passengers tonight, from the goaltender on out,” said Bednar, who loved what he saw for 60 minutes: “Relentless all over the rink.”

This burgundy and blue bandwagon is rolling.

Hop on. Jump out of the way. Or get run over.