Avalanche Vs. Wild Preview: Catching Stars, No Trenin |
Colorado Hockey Now If the Colorado Avalanche have any intention of catching the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Central Division, a win on the road in Minnesota is essential. With a dominant win over the Oilers last night, the Stars moved five points ahead of the Avalanche in the standings. Why does this game matter so much for Colorado? It’s their game in hand. A loss tonight would make a five point gap tough to overcome with just six games remaining, so they’ll have to be ready to go. Justus Annunen is scheduled to start in net for Colorado, and Alexandar Georgiev will go tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers. Make no mistake that Georgiev is still the starter on this team, but the schedule worked out where Annunen would start two of the three games on the road trip. Valeri Nichushkin has been skating back in Denver, and skated again Thursday morning, but will not play against the Wild. The hope is that he can play against the Oilers, but that depends on how he feels. Yakov Trenin also will not play on Thursday, but he may play against the Oilers as well. As always, the player to watch on the Wild is Kirill Kaprizov. He leads the Wild with 83 points and has been particularly deadly on the powerplay. Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines Jonathan Drouin – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen Brandon Duhaime – Casey Mittelstadt – Artturi Lehkonen Miles Wood – Ross Colton – Zach Parise Jean-Luc Foudy – – Chris Wagner – Andrew Cogliano Defense Devon Toews – Cale Makar Samuel Girard – Josh Manson Jack Johnson – Sean Walker Starting Goaltender Justus Annunen Expected Minnesota Wild Lines Kaprizov – Eriksson-Ek – Boldy Johansson – Rossi – Zuccarello Beckman – Khusnutdinov – Gaudreau Shaw – Lucchini – Lettieri Defense Middleton – Faber Brodin – Bogosian Merrill – Chisholm Starting Goaltender Filip Gustavsson Special Teams Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 24.9%, 6th in NHL Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 82.4%, 6th in NHL Minnesota Wild Power Play: 21.1%, 16th in NHL Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill: 74.3%,29th in NHL How to Watch TV: ESPN+, Altitude TV Radio: 950 AM Game Time: 6:00 PM MST |