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No rest for the wicked. After a very fun 6-3 victory over Matt Duchene and the Ottawa Senators last night, the Colorado Avalanche are right back at it tonight.
Tied for first place in the NHL, the Avalanche head to Minnesota to take on their Central Division rival before getting a full four days off.
These are two good teams that are going to be battling for playoff spots in the West so two points tonight will be incredibly important.
It’s a tough test going on the road after a very emotional win last night, but this is the type of situation where good teams step up. They don’t play again until Wednesday, so hopefully they can go all out for tonight then head home for some rest, recovery and Halloween fun.
Colorado Avalanche
After going the first ten games of then season without a goal from a defender, Sam Girard finally broke the drought last night.
Girard was a man possessed against the Senators. It might have been his best game in the NHL.
And then there’s the big-3. Mikko, Nate and Landy combined for another 10 points last night and they continue to prove why they are the best line in the NHL. It’ll be tough to continue this pace, but hopefully they have another few in them tonight.
The secondary scoring was better last night, but it still has to get a whole lot better.
Given the short turn around, the team won’t skate this morning, but we’re not likely to see any lineup changes tonight, unless Tyson Jost needs the night off.
Forwards
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Sven Andrighetto - Alexander Kerfoot - Marko Dano
Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Matt Calvert
Tyson Jost - Vladislav Kamenev - Colin Wilson
Defense
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson
Ian Cole - Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth - Nikita Zadorov
Mark Barberio
Minnesota Wild
The Wild come into tonight’s game without a loss in regulation at home. They’ve won four straight games and look like a team that will be contending for a playoff spot in the Central all season.
Old man Parise seems to be back in form for the first time in a long while. He has 11 points through his first nine games. He looks like a man that is finally healthy and having fun on the ice for the first time in years.
Along with Parise’s resurgence, Ryan Suter is reminding us why he is one of the best in the league. The 33-year old continue to log ridiculous minutes and is averaging a point per game from the blueline.
Forwards
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Nino Niederreiter
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Matt Read - Charlie Coyle - Joel Eriksson Ek
Marcus Foligno - Eric Fehr - J.T. Brown
Defense
Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin - Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn
Starting Goalies
After getting the night off yesterday, Semyon Varlamov is going to be back in net for the Avalanche tonight. Varly has been one of (if not the) best goalie in the NHL over the first month of the season. He comes into tonight’s contest with a 4-1-2 record and a .953 sv%.
In the home net will be another one of the league’s best. Devan Dubnyk will be between the pipes for the Wild. He also has a 4-1-2 record and is working on a .946 sv%.