The Avalanche open a two-game homestand Saturday night by meeting nemesis Minnesota, which posted 5-0, 3-0 and 1-0 wins in the three previous games this season while enjoying a 111-64 advantage in shots on goal.
Avalanche senior VP/GM Joe Sakic will be available 30 minutes before faceoff to discuss Monday's NHL trading deadline.
Here are the game notes.
The Wild have outscored the Avalanche 11-0 since Erik Johnson scored in the third period of Game 7 for a 4-3 lead in last year's playoffs.
"I'm expecting their best tonight," Wild coach Mike Yeo said Saturday morning. "I'm expecting probably the hardest game."
The Avalanche didn't skate Saturday after their 5-4 shootout win in Dallas on Friday.
Coach Patrick Roy benched right wing Nathan MacKinnon for most of the third period, along with the overtime and shootout. MacKinnon, who had four goals in the previous two games, didn't have a shot on goal in a season-low 12:35 of ice time.
Roy said after the game that he would use the top three lines Saturday that he did to end the game in Dallas, which would mean putting Cody McLeod and Max Talbot on the top two lines and demoting MacKinnon to the fourth line with Marc-Andre Cliche and Paul Carey.
Will Roy really use those lines (shown below) and how long will he go with them? Can't see it lasting long against a Wild team that has shut them out every game.
Semyon Varlamov will make his 19th consecutive start in goal. The Avalanche are 1-4-2 in the second game of a back-to-back situation and the Wild arrived in Denver on Friday after winning in Nashville on Thursday.
The Wild (32-22-7) have moved into the first wild-card position in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Los Angeles. The Avalanche (27-24-11) are five points behind the Kings, who hold the second wild-card spot.
Asked what challenges the Avalanche present, Yeo said: "Speed, skill. You look at the group of forwards they have and it's a very talented group. You have to be on guard. They can beat you off the rush, they can beat you in the offensive zone and if you're not sharp they'll take advantage of it."
The Wild turned their season around after acquiring goalie Devan Dubnyk on Jan. 14 from Arizona for a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL draft. They were 18-19-5 at the time.
Dubnyk, who will make his 20th start in a row, has gone 14-3-1 since the trade with a 1.68 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. He made 18 saves in a 1-0 win against the Avalanche on Feb. 7 at the Xcel Energy Center and has a 9-5-1 career record against Colorado with two shutouts.
Here's the Avalanche lineup, if Roy uses the lines he did late in Friday's game. Carey is expected to replaced Daniel Briere on the fourth line:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Max Talbot Cody McLeod - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla Alex Tanguay - John Mitchell - Dennis Everberg Paul Carey - Marc-Andre Cliche - Nathan MacKinnon
DEFENSE Jan Hejda - Zach Redmond Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Brad Stuart - Nick Holden
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra