Minnesota Wild (27-15-4, 58 pts) at Colorado Avalanche (28-18-1, 57 pts)
Venue: Ball Arena
Date: Monday, January 20
Time: 2:00 pm CST / 1:00 pm MST
TV: ESPN+ / FDSN / FDSW / ALT
Radio:
Minnesota Wild- KFAN 100.3 FM
Colorado Avalanche – Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM / 950 AM
DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Minnesota Wild +1.5 ML +190
Colorado Avalanche -1.5 ML -225
O/U 6.5
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Minnesota Wild News & Notes:
The injuries seem to have finally caught up to the Wild as Minnesota has lost three in a row and has been outscored 15-6 in that span. Minnesota has fallen to third in the Central Division going 5-5-0 in their last 10 games as the Wild try to stay afloat as they deal with a decimated defense while also missing their most important forward Kirill Kaprizov. Spurgeon and Kaprizov did not accompany the team on the short two-game road trip that concludes this afternoon in Colorado.
Colorado Avalanche News & Notes:
Colorado has a 3-2-0 record having alternated wins and losses over its last five games. The Avalanche are one point behind Minnesota in a tight race for the Central Division. The Avalanche has gone 6-3-1 in their last ten contests to close the gap with the Wild. This is the second of four meetings between the teams with the Avalanche winning the first meeting 6-1 behind a balanced attack that saw five players notch two-point games.
Minnesota Wild Projected Lines:
Boldy-Rossi-Zuccarello
Ohgren-Eriksson Ek-Hartman
Foligno-Gaudreau-Trenin
Shore-Khusnutdinov-Lauko
Middleton-Faber
Chisholm-Bogosian
Merrill-Jiricek
Gustavsson
Fleury
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Colorado Avalanche Projected Lines:
Colton-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Lehkonen-Mittelstadt-Drouin
Kiviranta-Kelly-O’Connor
Innala-Parssinen-Ivan
Toews-Makar
Girard-Manson
de Haan-Middleton
Blackwood
Wedgewood
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Players To Watch:
Minnesota Wild
Matt Boldy has been trying to pick up the slack in the absence of Kaprizov with back-to-back games with a goal and an assist and five goals and five assists in eight games in January. The 23-year-old winger is second on the Wild in scoring (behind Kaprizov) with 41 points (18g, 23a) in 46 games played.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche’s talented trio of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar are all producing at over a point per game with MacKinnon leading the NHL in scoring with 73 points (17g, 56a) in 47 games. Rantanen is no slouch with 63 points (25g, 38a) and Makar has 52 points (15g, 37a) in 47 games. The three superstars all play over 22 minutes a night and are +10 or better. It’s difficult to find a better three-headed monster in the NHL.
Injury Report:
Minnesota Wild
LW Marcus Johansson – IR
LW Karil Kaprizov – IR
D Jared Spurgeon – IR
D Jonas Brodin – IR
Colorado Avalanche
RW Valeri Nichushkin – OUT
LW Miles Wood – IR
D Oliver Kylington – IR
D Tucker Poolman – IR
LW Gabriel Landeskog – LTIR
Next game:
Minnesota Wild – January 22 vs. Utah Hockey Club
Colorado Avalanche – January 22 vs. Winnipeg Jets
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