The Colorado Avalanche have a division opponent up next on their schedule, as they take on the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon. It’s the first matchup between the two teams since the Wild acquired Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks. That addition can’t be taken lightly by the Avs.
Hughes has one goal and two assists in four games played for the Wild this season, after he played in 26 games, recording two goals and 21 assists for the Canucks earlier this season.
Following Hughes’ Wild debut, the 26-year-old defenseman acknowledged that he felt that it would take some time to get going as a unit with him onboard. As he is now entering his fifth game with the team, he’s had some time to get comfortable alongside Brock Faber on the top pairing.
The combination of that pairing has an xG% (expected goals percentage) of 61.8%, 5.5 xGoals For,
The Wild rank 14th in the NHL right now with 3.08 goals per game through 36 games. They’ve got 29 power play goals this season, and Hughes is on that first power play unit. That’s definitely something to watch as we head into this tilt. Though Hughes doesn’t have a power play goals with the Wild, he has two assists.
The power play for the Wild is probably only going to get better as time goes on, and that’s not good for the Avalanche. However, the Avalanche are second in the league at the penalty kill with a rate of 84.5 percent. Minnesota ranks 21st at 78.8 percent, which bodes well for the Avs.
It won’t surprise me if this matchup ends up being a very low-scoring affair, as the Avalanche are first in the league at Goals Against (2.21) while the Wild are third (2.50). It’s not an exact science, but with the Avalanche’s superstars like Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, as well as Martin Necas and Valeri Nichushkin, I think the Avalanche should have the upperhand in this game.
As they are facing a division foe, it would be the perfect time for the power play to get rolling. At 15.3 percent, the Avalanche are near the bottom of the league in that category and it has been their number one Achilles’ heel. The new system that Dave Hakstol has incorporated has not panned out through the first 34 games of the season, and something has got to give.
While Hughes is just a single player on a top team in the Western Conference, the Avalanche cannot afford to overlook that addition. Sure, they are the top team in the league right now, but I think that they need to just take things game by game and not allow this one to slip away. Stopping Hughes from taking over is going to be crucial on Sunday.
To counter the addition of Hughes, the Avalanche have to get Cale Makar going early. He has 10 goals and 30 assists this season, and adding a goal and a couple of assists would go a long way in this matchup. It’s also important to have Makar control the puck because of his elite puck skills.
This is the second of four matchups between the Avs and Wild this season. With the Wild aiming for a higher spot in the division, they’ve got plenty of reason to play Colorado very tough.