Gone Puck Wild
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Minnesota Wild: Three Reasons They Finish Higher Than Colorado

By Luke Ryan

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - NOVEMBER 24: Colorado Avalanche Center Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Minnesota Wild Center Mikko Koivu (9) face-off during a NHL game between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche on November 24, 2017 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN.The Wild defeated the Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout.(Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - NOVEMBER 24: Colorado Avalanche Center Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Minnesota Wild Center Mikko Koivu (9) face-off during a NHL game between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche on November 24, 2017 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN.The Wild defeated the Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout.(Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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ST. PAUL, MN - MARCH 13: Minnesota Wild Center Mikko Koivu (9) and Colorado Avalanche Left Wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) face-off during a NHL game between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche on March 13, 2018 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. The Avalanche defeated the Wild 5-1.(Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN – MARCH 13: Minnesota Wild Center Mikko Koivu (9) and Colorado Avalanche Left Wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) face-off during a NHL game between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche on March 13, 2018 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. The Avalanche defeated the Wild 5-1.(Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Minnesota Wild drop the puck on their regular-season against the Colorado Avalanche, in what is somewhat of a rivalry game within the Central Divison.

The Minnesota Wild are seeking to make another consecutive playoffs, and hopefully make it past the first round this time.

Whilst, the Colorado Avalanche are a season removed from finishing dead last but somehow squeaked into the playoffs themselves last year.

Pre-season is hardly a good judge of what the regular season score-lines will be, but I’d take a Minnesota Wild 7-0 win any day of the week. The chances of a weakened roster such as the one on that occasion are minimal though.

Both teams have their strengths and both have clear weaknesses, the question is; which team is better prepared to exploit the other’s weaknesses on game-night.

You can’t call the Colorado Avalanche a one-man band; they are far more than Nathan MacKinnon, but he is obviously a very large part of the team. Without his point-scoring ability last year, they don’t make the playoffs.

The Minnesota Wild, by comparison, spread the point-scoring love around with several players topping 50 for the year, not least Eric Staal who had a bumper 42 goal year.

There’s three key aspects of the Minnesota Wild team that I find are lacking with Colorado.

To finish above them, the Minnesota Wild will need to use all three to their advantage, every time the two teams meet, whilst hoping that the Avalanche self-sabotage and other teams can also take advantage of the same failings.

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