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Colorado Avalanche Hope to Go Wild on Minnesota

By Nadia Archuleta

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The Colorado Avalanche are hosting the Minnesota Wild for the fourth of five meetings. The previous three games have not been pretty. The Avalanche have yet to score a goal on the Wild. Needless to say, they haven’t won yet.

Add to that drama the fact that we hate Minnesota for Matt Cookeing Colorado offensive defensman Tyson Barrie. Then, add to that the fact that Minnesota just came into possession of the Wild Card slot the Avalanche desperately want.

Yeah, the Avs Nation really wants the Avalanche to go crazy on the Minnesota Wild.

Storyline

The Disappearing MacKinnon

About midway through the third period in last night’s game against the Dallas Stars, Avalanche fans noticed a perplexing line change for Colorado. Head coach Patrick Roy is no stranger to changing up the lines when the team needs shaking up, but this particular change put the hero of the previous two games, center Nathan MacKinnon, on the fourth line.

And he stopped playing the fourth line.

After the second intermission, MacKinnon recorded fewer than two minutes of ice time, despite the game going into overtime and a shootout. He did not participate in the shootout besides being second-best in the entire NHL.

Speculation ran rampant about whether he was injured or benched. Denver Post writer Mike Chambers eventually confirmed via Twitter that MacKinnon had been benched. Meanwhile, coach Roy stated he’d keep lines how they were in the third — meaning MacKinnon on F4.

Keys to the Game

Please, Just Score

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Nine whole periods of being shut out by the hated Minnesota Wild. Avalanche fans can’t take a tenth period — much less an eleventh and twelfth. The Avalanche need to score early and score often.

This is not just for the Avs Nation’s sake. The Wild play a horrible, mucky style of hockey. If the Avs don’t set the tone early… well, we’ve seen in the previous nine periods what happens. The Wild shut them down.

So, basically, shoot-shoot-shoot, baby, and then shoot again.

Tighten Up the Net

Goalie Semyon Varlamov has been average in the last two games. Granted he’s been called upon to make a lot more saves than his counterpart, but that’s the nature of Avalanche hockey — especially with the team’s best defenseman still on injured reserve.

Varlamov recorded only a .862 save percentage against the Nashville Predators and a .889 save percentage against the Stars. That kind of save percentage is not going to win against the Wild.

Varlamov may be tired from his 18 consecutive starts and having played all the way through a shootout in Dallas last night. That can’t matter — he has to be stellar.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Not

Well, besides the obvious from above — MacKinnon and Varlamov — the whole fourth line has gone pretty cold. Forwards Marc-Andre Cliche and Daniel Briere had a forgettable night against Dallas, doing nothing but earning a minus-1 on the evening. Both logged only 5 1/2 minutes of ice time.

Hot

After a blip of not recording a point against Nashville, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is back to his scoring ways. He recorded a goal and an assist in the Dallas game. He has 10 points in the last eight games, six of them goals.

Tyson Barrie is warmed up. He earned the third star of the Dallas game by recording a goal and two assists. Like Landeskog he was quieted by Nashville, but he still has seven points in the last four games, three of them goals.

The game starts at 8:00 pm MST and will be broadcast on Altitude TV.

Next: Landeskog's Captain Fight vs Weber

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