Wild Game Day number 10 Wild Record (5-2-2 12 pts) Home Record (4-0-2)
Opponent: Colorado Avalanche (7-2-2 16 pts) Road Record (4-1-1)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 11/24 Avalanche 2 @ Wild 3(SO) 1/6 Wild 2 @ Avalanche 7 3/2 Wild 1 @ Avalanche 7 3/13 Avalanche 5 @ Wild 1
Last result: 10/4 Wild 1 @ Avalanche 4
Colorado has been more than the Wild could handle over the past season + and tonight the teams meet for the second time this season.The Wild dropped the season opener in Colorado 4-1 but have only lost once in regulation since, and have won four in a row heading into tonight's contest.
It is no secret that the Avalanche are the poster team of the NHL's youthful speed movement. They possess the best line in hockey hands down, in Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog.
The Colorado trio is coming off a 10 point night vs Ottawa last night and Rantanen leads the NHL in scoring with 20 points through 11 games followed closely by MacKinnon with 18,while Landeskog sits tied for 5th with 15 points.
That trio has feasted on the Wild since the beginning of last season and if the Wild are going to extend their winning streak, stopping the Avs top line is an absolute must. Colorado is more than just a one line team though and the Wild know that first hand.
During the Wild four game win streak they have made strides in the analytics column, but tonight the high flying Avalanche will put them to the test. Colorado played last night and had to travel, while the Wild have been at home for the past week and only played once in the last week.
Tonight marks the final home game in October, and the Wild will embark on a seven game road trip that begins Monday in Vancouver. The next time the Wild will be on home ice after tonight is two weeks from Tuesday,when they host the Stanley Cup Champion.Washington Capitals on November 13th.
Jordan Greenway was sent to Iowa yesterday and played in the last night's game and will play for the baby Wild again tonight before rejoining the big club for the road trip. The hope is that Greenway can regain some confidence and start to play the game using his size and strength to his advantage, while creating better opportunities for him to use his shot.
Joel Eriksson Ek makes his return to the Wild lineup after missing the last six games with a lower body injury. Eriksson Ek himself has struggled to find his game in the early going, but that may have been more a product of the whole team's poor start.
For the Wild to be successful tonight the defense must be active keeping the Avalanche honest by forcing the the play up the ice. Wild passing must be crisp and clean to offset the Avalanche speed, if it turns into a track meet, it will not end well for the Wild.
Projected Wild lines: Zucker Staal Read Parise Koivu Granlund Niederreiter Eriksson Ek Coyle Foligno Fehr Brown
Suter Dumba Brodin Spurgeon Seeler Pateryn
Dubnyk Stalock
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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