Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild (6:30 p.m.)
Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It’s a Colorado Avalanche gameday!
The Colorado Avalanche will meet the Minnesota Wild for a Central Division matchup at Xcel Energy Arena in St. Paul, MN tonight. The Avalanche arrive after beating the Canucks in a statement win. The Wild are on a severe slide, having lost five straight contests.
Colorado Avalanche
It’s been a roller coaster ride of a season already for the Avalanche, and we aren’t even 20 games into the season. We’ve seen them secure solid and meaningful victories, and we’ve seen them let games slip away. Their third-period performance against the Canucks should provide a blueprint for future success. They limited mistakes, showed commitment and effort defensively, and were the better team 5-on-5.
Friday night hockey in the Twin Cities. : @NHL_On_TNT | @StreamOnMax : @AltitudeSR 92.5 FM⏰: 6:30 PM MT#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/d0aXF9ke5U— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) November 24, 2023
The Avalanche will be wise to continue that playstyle against a Wild team that is down in the dumps regarding team morale and current performance—no reason to let Minny off the hook.
Projected Lineup:
Valeri Nuchshkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko RantanenJonathan Drouin — Ryan Johansen — Tomas TatarMiles Wood — Ross Colton — Riley TufteAndrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta
Devon Toews — Cale MakarBo Byram — Josh MansonJack Johnson — Caleb Jones
Note: Kurtis MacDermid and Samuel Girard are listed as “healthy scratch,” according to NHL.com.
Minnesota Wild
What exactly has been making things so difficult for the Wild this season? I’d say a combination of things. Minnesota’s penalty kill has been atrocious and is ranked last in the NHL. This team hasn’t seen stellar performances from their net-minders and seem to be struggling at full strength.
This game could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in St. Paul. We could see some holiday lay-offs if they can’t beat the Avalanche or at least compete with Colorado.
"We have to instill the positivity of how we're playing." ️ Evason on the #mnwild maintaining a positive mindset. pic.twitter.com/O7y1nyvaSw— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 24, 2023
Projected Lineup:
Kirill Kaprizov — Marco Rossi — Mats ZuccarelloMarcus Johansson — Freddy Gaudreau — Matt BoldyMarcus Foligno — Joel Eriksson Ek — Ryan HartmanBrandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Pat Maroon
Jake Middleton — Jared SpurgeonJonas Brodin — Brock FaberJon Merrill — Zach Bogosian
Goaltenders
It will be Alexandar Georgiev vs. Filip Gustavsson tonight. Hopefully, Georgiev can build off of his third-period performance against the Canucks as well. Outside of his second goal, he was a wall in net for Colorado against Vancouver.
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