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Wild Try To Solve Avalanche, This Time in St. Paul |
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Wild Game Day number 70
Wild Record (39-23-7 85 pts)
Home Record (24-5-6)
Opponent: Colorado Avalanche (36-24-8 80 pts)
Home Record (12-16-6)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 7:30PM CT
TV: NBC Sports Network (NBCSN)
Last Season Results:
11/6 Wild 0 @ Avalanche 1
11/19 Avalanche 3 @ Wild 2
12/20 Avalanche 0 @ Wild 2
4/2 Avalanche 2 @ Wild 5
4/6 Wild 4 @ Avalanche 3
Last result;
11/24 Avalanche 2 @ Wild 3(SO)
1/6 Wild 2 @ Avalanche 7
3/2 Wild 1 @ Avalanche 7
Tonight the Avalanche visit the State of Hockey, before the Wild head back out on the road for their next two in Vegas and Arizona. Colorado has had the best of Minnesota in three games this season, despite the Wild's shootout win back in November.
The last two games, both in Denver, were no contest affairs with the Avalanche dominating the Wild from start to finish, winning 7-2 and 7-1 respectively. Going back to the November contest the Avalanche had the better of the play with the exception of the overtime frame in which the Wild rallied for 6 shots but could not beat Jonathan Bernier. They did manage to take the extra point thanks to goals by Charlie Coyle and, the recently departed, Chris Stewart in the shootout.
Like the Wild, Colorado is a vastly different team on the road than they are on home ice, but that means very little heading into tonight's tilt. The Avalanche match up very well with the Wild and have showed that they can inflict their will using both speed and grit to dictate the flow of play.
This is not going to be an automatic two points for the Wild, just because they are at home, and the fact that their home record is tops in the league. They will be tested from the drop of the puck by Colorado's speed and forecheck.
Neither team is safe as far as the playoff race is concerned, and even though the Wild are five points clear of Anaheim with a game in hand, there is still very little margin for error. The Wild have squandered opportunities to put distance between themselves and the bubble contenders, and now find themselves in a fight for their playoff lives.
Colorado's top line of Nathan McKinnon (3G, 5A), Mikko Rantanen (2G, 5A), and Gabriel Landeskog (1G,1A) have torched the Wild over the last two meetings leaving Bruce Boudreau, the unenviable task of trying to figure out how to slow the trio down.
Nick Seeler makes his return to the Wild lineup following a three game absence due to a minor biceps strain and illness. You may recall that in Seeler's last game he was the catalyst that sparked the team to rally and overcome an early deficit against Detroit with a well timed tussle versus Luke Witkowski.
Unfortunately for the Wild they have not had that same inspiration in the lineup since, despite their (2-1-0) record in the three games that Seeler missed.
This is crunch time, the playoffs are upon us. For those teams that treat the final month as such are the ones that will prevail. No longer is the 82 game season meaningless. Yes, the records get thrown out once the dance begins, but for the Wild past performance has always been a sign of what is to come.
Big game at home versus a division opponent that is fighting to move up and overtake the Wild, combined with the fact the Wild will immediately head out on the road once again for yet another back to back. This time the front end will be against the Western Conference leading Vegas Golden Knights and their 24-7-2 home record.
13 to play, will the Wild brass challenge the veteran leadership of this team to step up or will it be more of the same old same old?
Projected Wild Lines:
Zucker-Staal-Granlund
Parise-Koivu-Niederreiter
Ennis-Cullen-Coyle
Foligno-Eriksson Ek-Winnik
Suter-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Seeler-Prosser
Dubnyk
Stalock
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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