Preview: Matinee madness continues as Avs welcome the Wild

The Colorado Avalanche are looking to get another winning streak with a victory over the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena in their second straight matinee. The first one went very well, with Colorado beating the vaunted Dallas Stars 6-3 on Saturday. Can they keep the good day times rolling? The Wild come to town on a not-so-good three-game skid propelled by an injury wave. We know all about that in Colorado.

Colorado Avalanche

All eyes will be on Cale Makar today. On Saturday, he took a shot inside his skate but returned to score his 101st NHL goal. He was still in severe discomfort and not even sitting on the bench when he wasn’t on the ice. A healthy Cale Makar is paramount to Colorado’s success in 2025.

Speaking of 100 career goals, Jo Drouin also notched his 100th goal in an effort where his line stole the show: Casey Mittelstad, Jo Drouin, and Arrturi Lehknonen combined for a whopping 10 points against the Stars. If it can remain consistent, that sort of second-line production could spur on a long stretch of victories.

It’s not too far-fetched to think that this second line could get hot; when Mittelstadt was at his best, it was early in the season when he was paired up with real top-six talent. Drouin has only played 14/47 games this season but is still on a point-per-game pace. Lehky is Lehky. Arguably one of the most consistent players for the Avalanche year in and year out.

Projected Lineup:

Ross Colton — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Artturi Lehkonen — Casey Mittelstadt — Jonathan Drouin
Joel Kiviranta — Parker Kelly —Logan O’Connor
Jere Innala — Juuso Parssinen — Ivan Ivan

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Calvin de Haan — Keaton Middleton

Note: Could this be the day we see a return for forward Val Nichushkin? Last we heard from Bednar, he was “close.”

Minnesota Wild

The Wild are a good team when healthy, as proven by their record and position in the standings. However, they are human, and a wave of injuries has resulted in a tough stretch of 10 games in which they’ve only won half. The Avalanche need to pile on today and steal another four-point swing game!

Last time out, this bruised and battered Minnesota D group handed out pizza, and we created this glorious and legendary meme out of Ross Colton’s celly.

Projected Lineup:

Matt Boldy — Marco Rossi — Mats Zuccarello
Liam Ohgren — Joel Eriksson Ek — Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno — Frederick Gaudreau — Yakov Trenin
Devin Shore — Marat Khusnutdinov — Jakub Lauko

Jacob Middleton — Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm — Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill — David Jiricek

Goaltenders

Filip Gustavson vs Mackenzie Blackwood is my guess, with only Gustavson confirmed! It’s time for a bounce-back game for Blackwood, who gave up more than two goals in a game for the first time as an Avalanche in his last start against the Oilers.