Avalanche Meets Wild For Third Time This Season

The Colorado Avalanche plays the final contest of a quick two-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. It's the third of five meetings between the Central Division rivals this season and the second of three at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Colorado is 43-36-12 all-time against the Wild and 20-17-8 on the road in the series. Jarome Iginla has the most career points (72) and goals (39) of any player against the Wild franchise. He recorded an assist in the last meeting on Nov. 19.

Last Time Out

The Avs began the road trip with a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday afternoon, falling to 1-2-0 on the season against their division opponent. Trailing 3-0 entering the third period, Jarome Iginla scored a power-play goal to get Colorado on the board, but the comeback was halted there as the Jets potted an empty-netter late in the contest to seal the win.
The Wild won its seventh straight game with a 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. Minnesota raced out to a 3-0 lead before the Coyotes found the back of the net. Darcy Kuemper finished with 27 saves, and Eric Staal recorded a goal and an assist to lead the Wild. Minnesota has outscored its opponents 23-8 in its last six games.

Last Time They Met

The Avs trailed 2-0 after 40 minutes but rallied to score three goals in the third period to take a 3-2 win. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each tallied a goal and an assist, with MacKinnon's marker standing as the game-winner. Calvin Pickard finished with 41 saves, including 20 in the first period, and the Avs were 1-for-2 on the power play.

What to Watch

Wild Strong at Home
The Wild is 11-3-0 on home ice this season. One of those three home losses came at the hands of the Avalanche, which is 7-8-0 on the road this year.
Duchene Nears Career Mark
Matt Duchene is one point away from tallying his 400th career point. He would become just the sixth player in Avalanche team history to reach that milestone.
Cracking the Minnesota Defense
Minnesota enters Tuesday's game with the league's top-ranked defense, allowing just 1.93 goals per game.

Player to Watch

Colorado: Center Carl Soderberg
Soderberg is expected to skate in his 200th consecutive game this evening. His current 199-game ironman streak is a career high and the longest active streak on the team.

Minnesota: Left wing Zach Parise
The Wild's alternate captain has registered 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in 26 career games against the Avalanche. Tuesday will mark his first contest of the 2016-17 campaign against Colorado, as he missed the first two outings of the season series with an injury.

Lineup Notes

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who has missed three consecutive games with a groin injury, is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday and start between the pipes for Colorado. Varlamov is 9-11-1 in his career against the Wild, including a 4-5-0 record in Minnesota.

The Details

Tuesday night's game will be televised live on Altitude 2. Fans can listen in on Altitude Sports Radio AM 950 in Denver and online at ColoradoAvalanche.com.