Game Preview: Avalanche at Wild

COLORADO AVALANCHE VS. MINNESOTA WILD
6:00 PM MT | XCEL ENERGY CENTERWATCH: ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM/950 AM
Following back-to-back contests to begin the season, the Colorado Avalanche hit the road as they face off against the Minnesota Wild on Monday. Coverage begins at 6:00 P.M. MT on Altitude Sports.

This is the first of three games this season against the Wild. The next matchup will be in St. Paul on Feb. 15th, with the season series concluding in Denver on March 29th.
Through two games, Mikko Rantanen leads the team with five points and is tied for second in the NHL in scoring (Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos). Rantanen matched a single-game career high of four assists in the season opener and added an assist at Calgary.
The Avs power play has been exceptional, converting on 50% of opportunities (5-of-10), which is currently tied for the league lead with Edmonton. Valeri Nichushkin has been a major component of the power play, scoring all three of his goals on the man-advantage (two vs. Chicago, one at Calgary).

HISTORY

Last season, the Avalanche went 2-1-1 versus the Wild. Colorado won the first two games in Denver with a 7-4 goal margin, while the Wild won in OT and regulation to close out the season series.
AVALANCHE VS WILD
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GAME EXTRAS
Avalanche 360
Avalanche Tickets
The Avalanche hold a 57-46-15 all-time record against the Wild and a 25-23-11 mark on the road versus Minnesota.
The Avs finished the 2021-22 season with a 15-7-4 record against Central Division teams.

SCOUTING THE WILD

Minnesota meets the Avalanche in the third of a four-game home stretch to begin the 2022-23 season. The Wild are 0-2, falling in the opener to the New York Rangers, 7-3, followed by a tough loss in a 7-6 high-scoring affair to the Los Angeles Kings.
Wild forwards Mats Zuccarello (2G, 2A) and Matt Boldy (2G, 2A) lead the team with four points each, which is tied for third in the league.
Last game versus the Kings, Boldy became the fifth player in team history to register multiple points in at least the first two games to start a season.

LINEUP UPDATES

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog remains out with a lower-body injury. Veteran Darren Helm is also sidelined after undergoing offseason surgery. Jacob MacDonald is back practicing, and traveled with the team to Minnesota.
Wild forward Jordan Greenway and defenseman Jon Merrill remain sidelined following the start of the 2022-23 season due to recovery from offseason upper-body surgeries.

DOING THE MOST

Mikko Rantanen currently holds a +10 plus/minus against the Wild, the highest rating in Avalanche history versus the Central Division foes. Rantanen also ranks second on the Avs all-time list against the Wild in power-play points with 14.
Nathan MacKinnon is ranked ninth in most points by a player versus the Wild in the club's history with 44. MacKinnon (40 games) has the second-highest point total in Avs history against Minnesota, only behind Avs legend Milan Hejduk (50 points in 68 games).

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Kirill Kaprizov has a 28.0 shooting percentage against Colorado, the highest among active Minnesota players with at least 10 games played. In his 12 games versus the Avalanche, the young star has recorded 12 points (7G/5A).
Jared Spurgeon is tied for second on the Wild all-time list with 55 games played versus Colorado, sharing the spot with Nick Schultz (10 seasons, 2001-12). Overall, Spurgeon sits one goal short of the century mark, in which he would become the first defenseman in Wild history to net 100.

NUMBERS GAME

5
Mikko Rantanen recorded his fifth assist of the season and became the fifth player in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history with five helpers in the first two games of a season, joining Francois Beauchemin (5 in 2015-16), Kerry Huffman (5 in 1992-93), Peter Stastny (5 in 1987-88) and Dale Hunter (5 in 1980-81). Rantanen's five assists also share the current league-lead total with New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin.
1
Goaltender Pavel Francouz tallied his first career point at Calgary after he fired a pass along the boards from behind the net to a speedy Nathan MacKinnon who then roofed it top shelf.
50%
The Avs power play is converting at a 50% clip (5-for-10), tied for first in the NHL. Last season, the Avalanche led the NHL with 67 power play goals.