Today the Wild will try to get their legs going early in an attempt to match the Avalanche speed, which was on full display Thursday night. Colorado dominated from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer looking much like the powerhouse and elite level squad they are.
It was much like the first game played between the two, back in late January when they beat the Wild by the same score 5-1. The Wild are building for a very bright future, and they have shown signs that the process is a bit ahead of schedule. However, they are not quite yet in the class of the Avalanche when the Avs are on top ofbtheir game. That does not mean the Wild cannot compete with the Avalanche, but they will need to be far better than they were on Thursday.
We all hear a lot about Colorado's top line led by Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanan, and Captain, Gabriel Landeskog, and they were front and center Thursday, scoring four of the Avalanche five goals. The big difference now with the Avalanche is their second line led by Nazem Kadri, Brandon Saad, Andre Burakovsky add to that the ultra skilled Cale Makar on defense, along with Samuel Girard and the addition of Devin Toews have made the Avalanche roster into a juggernaut to say the least.
The Avalanche come at their opponents in waves but their team defense is simply off the charts as they dominate in shot differential on a nightly basis. The shot totals from Thursday night were questioned somewhat, however the dominance of the Avalanche matched that shot margin either way you slice it.
Matt Dumba will miss today's game and we have not gotten any official word on the extent of his injury however Deam Evason said it may be better than first thought.
Kaapo Kahkonen will be back in the Wild net and looking to extend his personal 9 game win streak in the process. There have only been 4 other rookie goalies to post longer win streaks than Kahkonen's nine game run.
Evason has had his team prepared following up each of their down performances and inwoukd expect a much more engaged Wild team effort today. Can they elevate that to the Avalanche level...
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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