WildHBcommunity: Game One Minnesota Wild Vs. Colorado Avalanche
The 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round One Minnesota Wild Versus Colorado Avalanche
The Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche have been tied to each other with some highly contested matchups and playoffs history. Tonight will be a renewal of the rivalry and bad blood between these two franchises. I fully expect the Avalanche to batter and bruise the smaller Wild lineup with their bottom two forward lines while their top two lines look to capitalize on forced errors and fatigue. The Wild feature it's most talented and deepest lineup in franchise history so although they enter this series as the underdog, they certain have every opportunity to emerge from this first round series as winners.
Game one will be an important litmus test for each of these teams because the Avalanche dominated the season series between these two franchises. The Avalanche though are missing two key centers in Matt Duchene and John Mitchell to begin this series while the Wild are nearly at their full complement. Both of these teams feature talented young forwards and defensemen throughout their lineup.
The two goalies in this series will be highly scrutinized and deservedly so as Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Bryzgalov are both fascinating storylines and each has been playing lights out hockey to wrap up the regular season. Beyond both of these netminders being Russian, their experience and career trajectory is particularly interesting to me. Varlamov was acquired in a trade with Washington that widely panned as an overpayment and reach by the Avalanche at the that time. After the season Varlamov put together this season I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone that doesnt think he has sky is the limit potential.
When Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher addressed his team's need for a veteran netminder at the trade deadline this year by shipping a 4th round pick to Edmonton for Bryzgalov, I think most fans and media didn't realize the brilliance behind the move. Fletcher having been apart of the Anaheim organization had direct knowledge of who Bryzgalov is and how he could be the remedy the Wild's puzzling situation between the pipes. Fletcher was very forth coming that he was not willing to give up his young NHL ready forwards in a swap for the likes of Ryan Miller, Jaroslav Halak, or even Jonathan Bernier last summer.
Certainly the incredible run that Bryzgalov went on to close out the regular season does nothing to eliminate the very real concerns his decline the past couple years has created but the Wild's playoff fate is now in the veteran goaltender's hands. Bryzgalov is easily the greatest variable in this series. I believe Bryzgalov is capable of stealing a game or two in this series especially if he plays like Wild fans have seen him to do when the club one six in a row to cement their playoff spot.
Key Players in this Series:
Nathan Mackinnon
Mikael Granlund
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Charlie Coyle Matt Moulson - Mikael Granlund - Jason Pominville Matt Cooke - Kyle Brodziak - Nino Niederreiter Cody McCormick-Erik Haula- Stephane Veilleux
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon Jonas Brodin-Marco Scandella Nate Prosser-Clayton Stoner
Ilya Bryzgalov John Curry
Scratched: Jonathon Blum, Dany Heatley, Darcy Kuemper Injured: Niklas Backstrom (abdominal), Keith Ballard (groin), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (quad) Suspended: Mike Rupp
AVALANCHE Ryan O’Reilly-Nathan MacKinnon-PA Parenteau Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Jamie McGinn Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Max Talbot Paul Carey-Brad Malone-Patrick Bordeleau
Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson Nate Guenin-Tyson Barrie Andre Benoit-Nick Holden
Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Scratched: Reto Berra, Stefan Elliott, Ryan Wilson Injured: Matt Duchene (knee), John Mitchell (concussion) Cory Sarich (back), Alex Tanguay (hip surgery)
Just My Take, Tony Dean Follow Me on Twitter @TonyDeanTHW Also Like the WildHBcommunity of FaceBook here: WildHBCommunity on FaceBook