Avs Conclude Regular-Season Series Against Wild

The Colorado Avalanche looks to earn its sixth straight win when the team faces off against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday in the second contest of a two-game set at Xcel Energy Center.
Colorado picked up a 5-4 victory at the Wild on Monday, improving to 26-8-4 on the season and 13-0-2 over its last 15 matchups. The club received goals from five different players as Nathan MacKinnon tallied for the third consecutive contest and added an assist to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists). Andre Burakovsky (one goal, one assist) and Samuel Girard (two assists) also put together multi-point efforts, while Gabriel Landeskog potted his sixth game-winning goal of the season--the most on the Avalanche roster. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer earned his league-leading 24th win of the year, making 21 saves on the night.

For Minnesota (23-12-2), Ryan Hartman registered his first three-point outing of the campaign with a goal and two assists, while Kevin Fiala and Marcus Johansson (one goal, one assist) both notched power-play markers. Fiala lengthened his point streak to a season-long six games (two goals, five assists) and Nick Bjugstad collected a goal and an assist for his first multi-point contest of the season. Netminder Cam Talbot lost for the first time at home this year (7-1-0), stopping 31-of-36 shots.
Wednesday's matchup is the final meeting between the squads this season and the second contest of a four-game road trip for the Avs. Colorado heads to Anaheim for a two-game set on Friday and Sunday to round out the trip.

Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild

Xcel Energy Center | St. Paul, Minn.
| Game Time: | 7:00 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | Altitude, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Wisconsin-plus (MIN) | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, AM 950 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | AltitudeNow.com, Official app, ESPN+ (blackouts apply to all) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | @Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-MINNESOTA CONNECTIONS

Erik Johnson is from Bloomington, Minnesota, and played one season at the University of Minnesota (2006-07)... Defenseman Greg Pateryn appeared in 103 games for the Wild before the Avs acquired him in a trade on Jan. 19… Wild defenseman Ian Cole spent the last two-plus seasons with Colorado… Minnesota goaltender Andrew Hammond spent part of the 2017-18 campaign with the Avalanche… Wild assistant coaches Darby Hendrickson (2003-2004) and Brett McLean (2005-2007) played for the Avs.
HISTORY
The Avalanche sports an all-time 55-44-14 record versus the Wild, with a 5-1-1 mark this season. Colorado has won three consecutive matchups against the club and owns a 2-0-1 record at Xcel Energy Center this campaign.
Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avs in scoring against Minnesota and ranks first among all players who have faced the Wild this season, recording two goals and 10 assists in six games. His 12 points are the most he has against any opponent this season, while his plus-8 rating is his best versus any club. Gabriel Landeskog (three goals, six assists) and Mikko Rantanen (four goals, five assists) are tied for second on the roster with nine points and Philipp Grubauer leads all goalies in wins versus Minnesota, boasting a 5-1-0 mark, .919 save percentage, 2.01 goals-against average and one shutout.

ROSTER REPORT

Colorado had an optional practice on Tuesday. Bowen Byram was a participant, but head coach Jared Bednar said that he didn't know at that time if Byram will be available for Wednesday. Defenseman Kyle Burroughs made his NHL debut on Monday in place of Dan Renouf. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer is expected to get his 32nd start of the campaign.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram is making progress with his upper-body injury but is still day-to-day. Logan O'Connor (lower body) and Matt Calvert (upper body) are both out week-to-week with ailments. Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Erik Johnson (upper body) are each out long term with injuries.

SCOUTING THE WILD

The Wild looks to get its power-play unit rolling as the club scored twice on the man advantage for the first time this season in Monday's matchup. Minnesota's power play ranks 30th in the NHL, converting on just 12 percent of its opportunities. On the other hand, the team's penalty kill has been one of the best in the league, owning the third-highest penalty-kill percentage (85.7) thus far.
Overall, Minnesota sits in third place in the West Division with 48 points (23-12-2) and is 5-4-1 over its last 10 contests. At home, the squad owns a 13-4-0 mark and had its franchise-long, 11-game home winning streak come to an end with the loss to the Avs on Monday. Kirill Kaprizov (14 goals, 17 assists), Jordan Greenway (five goals, 18 assists) and Mats Zuccarello (six goals, 16 assists) have led the way offensively for the club, while Ryan Hartman ranks first in scoring against the Avalanche with two goals and four assists.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: MATT DUMBA

Matt Dumba has registered five goals and seven assists in 32 contests this year, ranking tied for first in goals among blueliners on the club and third in scoring (tied). His 22:18 of ice time per game is the third-highest on the Wild, while his plus-6 rating is tied for seventh.
The defenseman is in his seventh full season with Minnesota as he has compiled 67 goals and 119 helpers in 443 career games. Dumba's 186 points are the third most in franchise history by a defender, while his 67 tallies rank second all-time on the team. Versus the Avs, Dumba has notched two goals and nine assists in 29 meetings, including a goal and an assists in four contests this campaign. He slots in fifth all-time in both scoring (11 points-tied) and plus-minus rating (plus-4) by a blueliner against Colorado.

NUMBERS GAME

4

Gabriel Landeskog passed Peter Forsberg for the fourth-most game-winning goals in Avalanche history (since 1995-96) on Monday, potting his 36th game-winner of his career. It was also his sixth game-deciding tally of the campaign, the most on the Avs and tied for fourth in the NHL with the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin and Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl.

10

Andre Burakovsky registered his 10th goal of the year on Monday, becoming the seventh Avalanche player with 10 or more markers this season. The Avs are tied with the Florida Panthers for the most 10-goal scorers of any team in the NHL.

52.4

Colorado is tied with the fifth-best faceoff percentage in the league, winning 52.4 percent of draws this season. The club has won the faceoff battle in four straight contests and 26 times this year, going 16-8-2 in such games.

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche has tallied a power-play marker in four of the last five contests, improving its man-advantage percentage to 23.6 this season, which ranks 10th in the NHL… Samuel Girard has collected eight multi-point games this campaign, the most multi-point outings the defenseman has had in a single season in his career. Girard has 30 points (five goals, 25 assists) this year and is tied for sixth among NHL blueliners in both scoring (tied) and assists… Colorado owns a 9-4-2 record away from home this season. The club's 3.27 goals per game on the road ranks third in the league, while its 2.53 goals-against average is tied for fourth best… The Avalanche's 15-game point streak is the second longest in franchise history and one short of the club record. The 2000-01 Avs went 16 consecutive contests with a point from Dec. 27, 2000-Jan. 30, 2001 (12-0-3-1)… Devon Toews has a plus-23 rating this season and is tied for third overall in the league with teammate Nathan MacKinnon while ranking second outright among NHL defensemen. Toews has finished with a career-best plus-3 rating four times this season and a plus-2 or better 10 times.