The Colorado Avalanche will hit the ice on Wednesday night at Ball Arena with a chance to close out the Minnesota Wild and move on to face the winner of the other Western Conference series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks.
The Avalanche pulled out a gutsy 5-2 win on Monday night to take a stranglehold on the series. The Wild, meanwhile, will be looking to live to fight another day. That’s why this matchup should be a great one.
Let’s take a look at some key points ahead of tonight’s matchup:
Forward lines
- Landeskog-MacKinnon-Necas
- Colton-Nelson-Roy
- Nichushkin-Kadri-O’Connor
The forward lines should remain the same as they did in Game 4. This approach will be a question of not fixing something that isn’t broken.
The addition of Joel Kiviranta in Game 4 added some highly useful spark, while it was the bottom six that came through when the Avs needed it the most.
Defense pairs
Now, let’s look at the defense pairs
- Toews-Makar
- Kulak-Burns
- Blankenburg-Manson
Jack Ahcan made his playoff debut in Game 4. However, he only saw about seven minutes of ice time. Devon Toews ended up logging over 28, Cale Makar over 26, and Brett Kulak nearly 22. So, you would think that Jared Bednar would go with another blueliner he trusts. That would be Nick Blankenburg.
It makes more sense to pair Blankenburg with Josh Manson. The duo can function as a shutdown pairing, even with Kulak playing with Brent Burns.
Goaltender
The choice is clear: MacKenzie Blackwood. It seems that Scott Wedegwood will need some more time off. If the Avalanche can close out the series on Wednesday, they’ll have a couple of extra days to rest in between series. The Ducks and Golden Knights are tied at two, so they’ll play at least another couple of games.
The extra rest will hopefully assist Wedgewood in getting back into tip-top shape. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the veteran netminder. That’s why it might just be a matter of the unusually high number of games getting to him.
Avalanche injury updates
The two biggest issues at this point remain Sam Malinski and Artturi Lehkonnen. Both regulars were “dinged up” in Game 3, consequently missing Game 4. Now, there’s a chance they could be back for Game 5, as they are both listed as day-to-day.
The good news is that the Avalanche is so deep that they can manage another game without them. However, it would be nice to see them back in the lineup.
That said, it’s likely Bednar gives them another night off, hoping to wrap up the series on Wednesday night. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see both Malinski and Lehkonen back in the lineup for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
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