Tonight should be an interesting night for more than one reason:
#1- It’s the firest Wild home game in quite some time.
#2- They are wearing their “Miller High Life” Jersey’s tonight.
#3 – Chuck Kobasew should make his Wild debut.
#4- It’s Koivu’s first game with the “C”.
That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is that Colorado comes into the game with the 3rd largest margin of victory in the league and they are healthy. The Avs have been outstanding on both sides of the ice this year scoring 28 goals while only giving up 18.
I think the Wild have a first line that can hang with Colorado’s first line but with all of the injuries it could be a big night for their 2nd and 3rd lines. Things could work out better for the Wild if they can get a favorable line matchup for their first line. Given that the Wild have played pretty well the last couple of games, they are at home, and have more depth with Kobasew I think the Wild are poised for an upset here.
Players to watch:
Wild= Andrew Brunette (probably their best player so far), Belanger (surprisingly good so far), Kobasew (see what he can contribute)
Avalanche= Matt Duchene (the rookie has been almost a PPG player in the last few), David Jones (PPG+ over the last four), Cody McLeod (PPG+ lately) and you always have to watch Hejduk.
The way they are playing right now the Avs 2nd line are nearly as good as their first which could be very dangerous for the Wild. If the Wild lose this game I think you will see that the AVs second line had a huge part in it.