The Minnesota Wild hopes to cool down the hottest line in hockey tonight in St. Paul.
The Minnesota Wild will want to avenge an opening season loss to the Avs in which they were outplayed entirely losing 4-1 on (10/4).
These Central Division rivals know how vital it is to get at least a point in tonight’s game even though it’s still early in the season.
Per dailyfaceoff.com, Devan Dubnyk will once again be between the pipes for the Wild. Dubnyk allowed 1 goal on 24 shots against the Kings on Thursday. He once again will have to be on top of his game against the high flying Colorado Avalanche.
Minnesota Wild has enjoyed playing at home so far this season as they rank second in league with (10) points and a record of (4-0-2) at home.
Charlie Coyle has been better of late and will need to have a big game against the Avs tonight. He has three points (1-2-3) in the last two games.
Struggling LW Jordan Greenway was sent down to the Iowa Wild yesterday. He has just 1 assist in 9 games.
LW Joel Eriksson Ek is slated to return to the lineup tonight and will play on a line with C Charlie Coyle and RW Matt Read.
Opponent: Colorado Avalanche
The Avs are on the tail end of back to back games as they beat Ottawa 6-3 at home in Denver last night. With a record of (7-2-2), Colorado is tied in points (16) with Nashville on top of the Central Division.
Coach Jared Bednar’s first line will be seeing a ton of ice tonight. As arguably the top line in hockey; center Nathan MacKinnon and forwards Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog have combined for 23 of the 39 goals scored by the Avs this season.
RW Mikko Rantanen leads the NHL with 20 points (5-15+20) in 11 games played.
The Rundown
Puck Drop: 7:15 p.m. Central time (Ryan Suter 1,000th NHL game ceremony will begin at 7:07 p.m).
Radio: KFAN FM and affiliates
Watch: Fox Sports North; Fox Sports app
All-Time Record vs. Avalanche: 28-19-15 49-39-11 (27-17-5 at Xcel Energy Center, 22-22-6 at Colorado).
18-19: Avalanche beat the Wild in their home opener 4-1 at Pepsi Center on (10/4).
Team Series Leaders:
Wild: Koivu leads Minnesota Wild with 47 points (18-29=47) in 68 games against Colorado.
Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog leads the Avalanche with 24 points (11-13=24) in 34 Games vs. Wild
Wild Goalies vs. Avalanche: Dubnyk is 16-12-1 with a 2.41 GAA, a .923 SV% and four shutouts in 31 career starts vs. Avalanche. Alex Stalock is 3-2-0 with a 2.08 GAA and a .913 SV%.
Avalanche Goalies vs. Wild: Semyon Varlamov is 12-12-1 with a 2.29 GAA, a .927 SV% and one shutout in 26 games vs. the Wild. Philipp Grubauer has one career start against the Wild which resulted in a win (2/15/18).
Injuries:
Wild: Matt Hendricks (lower body)
Avalanche: J.T. Compher (head)
For the Minnesota Wild to win tonight, they will need to stay out of the penalty box as the Avalanche have 11 goals on the power play this season.
Once again Dubyk will have to be sharp as he will see a lot of rubber the Avs high powered offense. It should be a playoff-like atmosphere tonight in St. Paul as this Central Division rivalry ramps up.
All stats courtesy of nhl.com and dailyfaceoff.com.