Colorado Avalanche Game Day: Rivalry night against the Wild

After a strong outing Thursday night, the Colorado Avalanche head into Saturday looking for their first back to back wins of the season. With the Minnesota Wild in town, a win will bring the Avalanche back to .500 for the first time since the opening week of the season.

Time: 7:00 PM Mountain Time

Location: Ball Arena

Television: Altitude, BSN+

Colorado Avalanche

Though Mikko Rantanen remains out of the lineup, the Avs got some good news as Sam Girard will make his return to game action after taking a dangerous hit from Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos a week ago.

After missing the first two games of the season, Nathan MacKinnon has at least a point in every game this season. He will look to continue that steak tonight as the Avs look to build on the strong offensive game we saw against the Blues on Thursday.

With Girard healthy again, Kurtis MacDermid will find his way to the press box - a move that should help the Avs defense see a better allocation of ice time as all six defenders will be able to take a regular shift.

Lineup

Landeskog - MacKinnon - Burakovsky

Ranta - Kadri - O’Connor

Jost - Compher - Kaut

Helm - Megna - MacDonald

Byram - Makar

Girard - E. Johnson

J. Johnson - Murray

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild placed winger Jordan Greenway on injured reserve Friday afternoon, recalling Adam Beckman from the Iowa Wild in his place. Beckman is one of the organization’s highest rated prospects and will be looking to give the Wild a boost in his NHL debut.

Along with Greenway, the Wild will also be without their leading scorer Mats Zuccarello after he was placed in COVID protocol earlier this week.

Lineup

Starting Goalies

Darcy Kuemper will make his seventh start of the season tonight as be looks to improve on his 3-3-0 record and .893 sv%.

For the Wild, we are likely to see Cam Talbot who is off to a great start this season. Talbot’s 5-1-0 record and .914 sv % are among the best in the NHL.