Final Showdown Tonight Vs. Wild

Antti Miettinen comes into tonight's contest as the Wild's hottest player; in the last seven games, he's had three multi-goal games.

Tonight’s matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild marks their final game against each other during the regular season. The Wild beat the Avs like burgundy-headed stepchildren early on in the season, winning the first four games these two played, before the Avs finally earned their first win against them, a 4-3 victory on December 21st.

Both teams come into this game on a relative hot streaks. The Avs and the Wild are 7-3-0 and 6-3-1 in their last ten, respectively. Avs might have the edge early on in this game, since Minnesota played last night against the Detroit Red Wings. On top of that, Vezina finalist Niklas Backstrom had to sit out last night’s game because of an injury, so Josh Harding will have to start for the second time in less than 24 hours.

At this point in the season, all the games are important, every point matters. As Calgary has faded, Vancouver has taken their place as the Avs’ #1 contender for the Northwest Division title, and they want it real bad. They are now on a seven game winning streak, and it just seems that no one has been able to beat them lately. Doesn’t hurt that you have one of the greatest goalies in the game and the #1 scorer in the NHL in Henrik Sedin. Yeah, Henrik Sedin. I know, right?! Anyways, this game is going to be huge. It’s the difference between holding on to first place and falling into a tie or worse.

As always, look for Anderson to come up huge, especially against Miettinen and Koivu, who always seems to have our number. We’ll also want to keep an eye out for Chris Stewart and Matt Duchene, our hottest scorers of late, especially since Milan Hejduk is out tonight.

Good luck boys!