MINNESOTA WILD (30-27-6) AT COLORADO AVALANCHE (39-20-5)
7:00 PM MDT | BALL ARENA | WATCH: ALTITUDE TV/NHL NETWORK | LISTEN: 92.5 FM
The Avalanche play their third home game in five days against the Wild on Friday night at Ball Arena. The club has tallied at least five goals in three of their last four games, outscoring opponents 18-7 in that span. Colorado is 10-2-0 at home since the start of the New Year. The Avs got the better of the Wild in the first matchup this season, 3-2 on November 24 at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota comes into tonight’s contest having lost three of their last five contests. Colorado ranks tied for third in the Central Division by points with 83. Minnesota sits at sixth in the Central Division having recorded 66 points.
Latest Results:
March 6, 2024 COL: 7 DET: 2
March 7, 2024 MIN: 5 ARI: 2
DANCING PAST DETROIT
The Avs bested the Red Wings 7-2 on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Colorado has beaten Detroit six straight times in Denver and are 11-0-1 in the last 12 meetings with them overall. The Red Wings struck first in the opening period, when Robby Fabbri tallied a power play goal. Cale Makar scored his first of three on the night to even the score at one. Detroit retook the lead after David Perron found the back of the net. The Avalanche then tallied six straight goals. Nathan MacKinnon knotted the score at two going into the first intermission, his 40th tally of the season. Artturi Lehkonen lit the lamp in the middle frame and Makar potted two more to complete his hat trick. Colorado added to its lead in the final frame with tallies from Jonathan Drouin and Jean-Luc Foudy, the latter being his first career NHL goal.
AVS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
MacKinnon registered another four-point game (1g/3a) after doing it on Monday. That’s the second time this season he’s posted four-point games in consecutive outings (Jan. 20-24). Peter Forsberg - who had two instances of it in 1995-96 - is the only other player in franchise history to record at least four points in consecutive contests multiple times in a single season.
The centerman extended his season-opening home point streak to 31 games and his overall point streak to 11. The 31-game run is tied with Mario Lemieux (1995-96) and Bryan Trottier (1981-82) for the fourth-longest home point streak in NHL history. The last time someone recorded a longer home point streak was Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 40 games in 1988-89.
MacKinnon is the first player in Avalanche history to tally consecutive 40-goal campaigns. The centerman is also the only Avalanche to register three different 40-goal seasons.
Makar recorded his first career hat trick. He became the fourth defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques history and the second since relocation to record a hat trick, following Sandis Ozolinsh (Dec. 6, 1999), Uwe Krupp (March 1, 1995) and Bryan Fogarty (Dec. 1, 1990). MacKenzie Weegar is the only other NHL defenseman to tally a hat trick this season. The blueliner set the franchise record among defensemen with his ninth multi-goal game. He’s also the franchise’s all-time leader in multi-assist games (48) and multi-point games (85) among rear guards.
Rantanen matched his career-high with four assists (0g/4a) and cleared the 80-point threshold on the season in the process (31g/52a). The winger also tied his career-long assist streak at eight in a row to clear 50 assists on the campaign. 2023-24 marks Rantanen’s fifth career 80-point season and third straight. Since the franchise relocated to Denver, MacKinnon (2017-20, 2021-24), Joe Sakic (1998-01) and Peter Forsberg (Four straight, 1995-99) are the only Avs to turn in three consecutive 80-point campaigns.
Ross Colton (13g/20a) registered his first career 20-assist season and bested his point total from a season ago (32).
Jared Bednar coached his 600th behind an NHL bench. His career record (all with the Avalanche) sits at 330-212-58, which includes a 195-80-25 ledger in his last 300 games coached.
ADDING TO THE AVS
The Avalanche acquired Center Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres and Defenseman Sean Walker from the Philadelphia Flyers in separate trades Wednesday. Colorado also acquired Left Wing Brandon Duhaime from the Minnesota Wild and Forward Yakov Trenin from the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
Mittelstadt led the Sabres this season in point (47) and assists (33) in 62 games at the time of the trade. He also set career-highs this campaign with 12 even-strength goals and an average time on ice of 18:16.
Walker collected 22 points (6g/16a) in 63 contests in 2023-24 with Philadelphia. The 29-year-old ranked second among team blueliners in scoring and has recorded career-highs in goals (6) and shorthanded tallies (2). He is two points from tying his career-high with 22 (5g/19a), set during the 2019-20 season with Los Angeles.
Duhaime appeared in 62 games with the Wild this season, having recorded four goals and four assists. The Florida native, debuted in 2021-22 with Minnesota, racking up 122 PIM in 80 games.
Trenin played in 60 contests with Nashville during the 2023-24 season. He has registered 14 points (10g/4a), ranks third on the team in hits (171) and was tied for the team-lead with a +12 rating.
HISTORY
The Avalanche own a 60-47-3-12 all-time record against the Wild, with a 32-24-2-2 mark at home. Colorado is 10-4-2 in its last 16 matchups with Minnesota, outscoring them 56-47. The Avs’ are 5-2-0 in their last seven home games against the Wild.
ANSWERING ARIZONA
The Wild defeated the Coyotes 5-2 at the Mullett Arena on Thursday. Minnesota opened the scoring in the second period on the power play thanks to Kirill Kaprizov. Arizona struck twice in seven seconds in the final frame when Clayton Keller (power play) and Michael Carcone found the back of the net. Minnesota tallied four-straight goals to secure the win, getting contributions from Zach Bogosian, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Faber (empty-net) and Connor Dewar (empty-net).
STATS TO KNOW
MacKinnon has tallied the third-most points (50, 17g/33a) among active NHL skaters against the Wild in his career. The 50 points are the most he has accumulated against any franchise.
Samuel Girard recorded four points (1g/3a) in last season’s three-game regular season series against Minnesota.
Rantanen has collected 35 career points (14g/21a) in 32 career matchups with Minnesota.
MAJESTIC MINNESOTA
Brock Faber ranks second among all rookies in scoring and first among all rookie defenseman with 36 points (5g/31a).
Since 2020-21 (his debut season) Kirill Kaprizov has tallied the sixth-most goals of any NHL player with 144.
Matt Boldy has recorded the third-most points of any member of the 2019 NHL Draft class, posting 151 points (69g/82a) in 183 games.
NUMBERS GAME
109
MacKinnon ranks first among all NHL skaters in scoring this season collecting 109 points (40g/69a).
17
Makar leads all NHL defenseman in goals this campaign with 17.
237
The Avalanche rank first among all NHL clubs in goals scored in 2023-24, finding the back of the net 237 times.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“I’ve never had a hat trick since before juniors. It’s been a long, long time even before that. I have had a lot of two goal games but it was a different vibe tonight it was pretty cool.”
- Colorado D Cale Makar on his hat trick performance
