The Colorado Avalanche, boasting the most formidable lineup in the NHL this season, just got a little nastier coming out of the NHL trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Or, perhaps more fittingly, Naz-tier.<\/p>\n
Nazem Kadri begins his second stint as a member of the Avs today, who face the newly reconfigured Minnesota Wild in a high stakes matchup at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n
Colorado Avalanche (42-10-9)<\/p>\n
The Opponent: Minnesota Wild (37-16-10)<\/p>\n
Time: 12:00 P.M. MST\/2:00 P.M. EST<\/p>\n
Watch: HBO MAX\/TNT\/truTV (U.S. National Broadcast), TVAS\/TVAS+ (Canadian National Broadcast), SN+, NHL Centre Ice (Outside Avalanche and Wild Broadcast Region – Canada)<\/p>\n
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM<\/p>\n
The Avalanche return home on the heels of their most challenging stretch of hockey in the wake of the Olympic break. They defeated the Dallas Stars by a 5-4 shootout decision after coming back from separate 3-1 and 4-2 deficits on Friday evening at American Airlines Center. After Stars captain Jamie Benn botched an empty net play that would have secured a key regulation victory for Dallas, Valeri Nichushkin tied the game with 13.2 seconds remaining in the third period. Scott Wedgewood, who replaced Mackenzie Blackwood after he surrendered four goals on eleven shots, was sensational in relief, stopping everything that came his way in regulation, and made brilliant saves on Dallas\u2019 Miro Heiskanen in overtime and both Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene in the shootout. Martin Ne\u010das scored what proved to be the shootout winner on Jake Oettinger, and Nichushkin added another shootout goal to ice the comeback, salvaging two critical points in the standings from falling into Dallas\u2019 hands. The victory completed a sweep of the Avs\u2019 three game road trip, and was their fifth win in six games, while snapping Dallas\u2019 franchise record ten game winning streak.<\/p>\n
Coach Jared Bednar said this of Nichushkin\u2019s performance on Friday: \u201cI feel like he\u2019s been playing a lot better right before the break, coming out of the break, he\u2019s starting to using his legs like we\u2019re used to seeing. He had been fighting the puck for a little bit, had a little bit of an injury that was bothering him; he was playing through that, and he\u2019s been snakebit [\u2026] hopefully this sparks him here, and he starts feeling it a little bit, because he deserves to put a few more back in the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their win over Dallas, the Avalanche further solidified their position as the undisputed leader across the Central Division, Western Conference, and League standings. Coming into today\u2019s game against Minnesota, they have a six point lead over Dallas with a game in hand, and a nine point lead over Minnesota with two games in hand. While the Avs trail the season series as a result of their 5-2 defeat on home ice by Minnesota on February 26, this version of the Avalanche roster will look markedly different from the one that Minnesota faced previously with the return of Nazem Kadri\u2014a reunion that many Avs fans felt was nearly impossible\u2014after being re-acquired from the Calgary Flames on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Despite having just a twelve goals to this point in this year, his lowest since the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season, Kadri\u2019s physicality, face-off prowess, and penchant for drawing penalties will be huge as the Avs close in on that coveted top seed for the playoffs. He should have no problem getting re-acquainted with Bednar\u2019s system, and his chemistry within the locker room speaks for itself. Kadri will undoubtedly receive a hero\u2019s welcome from Avs fans for his first game in a Colorado sweater in over three years.<\/p>\n
Today marks the final game of the four game series with Minnesota, but a win by the Avalanche this afternoon could all but put the top spot in the Central Division out of Minnesota\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
(Let\u2019s try not to launch any pucks from the defensive zone on the penalty kill today.)<\/p>\n
Nathan MacKinnon still leads the NHL with a League-best 42 goals and has closed the points gap with Edmonton\u2019s Connor McDavid (MacKinnon has 103 points; McDavid leads the League with 106). Ne\u010das, who tied his career high in goals (28) this past Friday in Dallas, is two goals away from a tie for second place in goal scoring with Brock Nelson (30). Cale Makar is one goal away from his fourth season of reaching the 20 goal marker.<\/p>\n
Forwards:
Gabe Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Ne\u010das
Ross Colton – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly – Nazem Kadri – Nicolas Roy
Joel Kiviranta – Jack Drury – Gavin Brindley<\/p>\n
Defense:
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski<\/p>\n
Between the Pipes:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood<\/p>\n
Minnesota came out of the Olympic break with a huge opportunity to gain ground in the hotly contested Central Division with their victory over Colorado. However, two consecutive losses to division opponents (ironically, a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Utah Mammoth on February 27\u2014the night after they defeated Colorado by the exact same score\u2014and a 3-1 loss to the St Louis Blues on March 01) allowed Dallas to reclaim second place, dropping Minnesota to third in the division. Coming into today\u2019s game, Minnesota pulled within two points of Dallas, having defeated the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 4-2 at T-Mobile Arena this past Friday, so a win in Denver today would be pretty massive. However, since Dallas holds a game in hand on Minnesota, they would still retain second place in the division. With less than twenty games left in the regular season, Minnesota may need to start getting help from other teams in order to position themselves more favorably as teams hit the final stretch of the season.<\/p>\n
While Minnesota landed its biggest trade piece earlier this season in the Quinn Hughes deal last November, GM Bill Guerin was very active leading up to the NHL trade deadline. He claimed center Robby Fabbri off waivers from the St. Louis Blues, and acquired defenseman Jeff Petry from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Minnesota\u2019s seventh round pick in this year\u2019s draft. He also acquired center Michael McCarron in exchange for Minnesota\u2019s second round pick in 2028.<\/p>\n
Guerin wasn\u2019t done there: at the deadline, he acquired right wing Bobby Brink from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman David Ji\u0159\u00ed\u010dek. Brink made his debut for Minnesota this past Friday, but is no stranger to playing in Colorado, having won several awards at the collegiate level, including the NCAA championship in 2022, with the University of Denver Pioneers. Guerin also acquired Nick Foligno, the brother of Minnesota assistant captain Marcus Foligno, from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations. Marcus Foligno is currently out with injury, but could return to the lineup against Colorado. Vinnie Hinostroza was also dealt to the Florida Panthers in exchange for future considerations.<\/p>\n
Minnesota\u2019s retooled lineup will give them a much different appearance in this final regular season matchup against Colorado. The addition of Brink will give them another option on offense; while his thirteen goals would tie him for seventh place among Minnesota skaters, this figure is a career high for him in his short NHL career and could see a bump in his new surroundings, especially if he continues to see top six ice time like he did this past Friday against Vegas. Foligno and McCarron add a veteran presence that playoff-bound clubs find irrisitible for playoff runs, and while Fabbri has struggled in recent seasons, having roster depth\u2014especially at center\u2014is a must have at this time of year as teams gear up for postseason play.<\/p>\n
Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy currently share the team lead in goals (35). Kaprizov leads all skaters in points (75), while Boldy is three points behind in second place (72). Filip Gustavsson got the start Minnesota\u2019s previous victory in Colorado, but was unable to finish the game due to illness. With Gustavsson getting a majority of the starter\u2019s workload since coming back from the Olympics, it\u2019s possible Jesper Wallstedt starts today to give Gustavsson a breather prior to Minnesota\u2019s upcoming four game homestand starting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Forwards:
Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Matt Boldy – Joel Eriksson Ek – Bobby Brink
Vladimir Tarasenko – Danila Yurov – Yakov Trenin
Robby Fabbri – Michael McCarron – Nico Sturm<\/p>\n
Defense:
Quinn Hughes – Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin – Jared Spurgeon
Jake Middleton – Zach Bogosian<\/p>\n
Between the Pipes:
Jesper Wallstedt
Filip Gustavsson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Colorado Avalanche, boasting the most formidable lineup in the NHL this season, just got a little nastier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,29254,3597,5277,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-493064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-colorado-avalanche-game-coverage","12":"tag-colorado-avalanche-previews","13":"tag-coloradoavalanche","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116193485236562130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}