Wild Game Day number 31 Wild Record (18-8-4 40 pts) Home Record (11-3-0)
Opponent: Colorado Avalanche (11-18-1 23 pts) Road Record (7-8-0)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 10/8/15 Wild 5 @ Avalanche 4 12/5/15 Avalanche 0 @ Wild 3 12/7/15 Wild 1 @ Avalanche 2 (OT) 3/1/16 Avalanche 3 @ Wild 6 3/26/16 Wild 4 @ Avalanche 0
Last Result; 11/6 Wild 0 @ Avalanche 1 11/19 Avalanche 3 @ Wild 2
A lot has changed for the Wild in the month between the last time the Avalanche visited the Xcel Energy Center back on November 19th, a 3-2 Avs victory. The Wild have gone 9-1-3 since then and have climbed the Central Division and NHL standings in the process.
Colorado has had a very trying season to date and the rumors of trades and shakeup are swirling. But you can't tell that by the two meetings with the Wild so far, both Avalanche one goal victories.
Division contests are always more hotly contested and many times records can be thrown out. Intensity tends to become more elevated especially when teams have a recent playoff history.
This is a game that may be easy for the Wild to overlook as they look ahead to two tough road matchups later this week in Montreal and New York versus the Rangers. Recent history for the 2016-17 Wild shows that they have tripped up against the league's lesser teams so they should not be looking past this one at all tonight.
Erik Haula will miss tonight's game with a lower body injury and the Wild have recalled 30 year old rookie Pat Cannone from Iowa. Cannone will be making his NHL debut this evening after spending the better parts of the seven seasons in the minors. He has four goals and 16 points this season for Iowa and has scored 84 goals and 135 assists in 377 career minor league games.
Two points the Wild must have before they hit the road for the next three games that will take them through the Christmas Holiday break and just beyond. The streak is now at seven but more important is the fact that the Wild are getting contributions from up and down the lineup.
As we all know streaks come and go but consistency is what the great teams strive to achieve. The Wild are developing that in a very big way. Yes they will lose games just as they have won some along the way that they should have dropped. The margin in most games is very thin between winning and losing. IN the end the top teams find the will and way to win even when they don't have their "A" game.
Let's Play Hockey!