Avalanche at Wild preview

AVALANCHE (31-29-12) at WILD (34-30-9)
8 p.m. ET; FSN+, ALT, NHL.TV

The Wild are 2-3-1 in their past six games and trail the Arizona Coyotes by one point. They are three points ahead of the Avalanche, who have one game in hand.
Colorado is 3-5-0 in eight games after going 6-1-1 in its previous eight.
A Wild loss in any fashion will clinch a playoff berth for the San Jose Sharks.

Players to watch

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past six games.
Wild forward Ryan Donato has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games and 13 (four goals, nine assists) in 13 games since he was acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins on Feb. 20.

They said it

"We have to continue to break it down one game at a time, and this game here against (Minnesota) is important, probably even more important for us because we're chasing them, trying to track them down here for a playoff spot. Every inch of ground that we can gain with 10 games to go is very important." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"We worked very hard (the past two games). …That should be the norm right now. We've got nine games left. That's the norm, especially at home. You [have to] outwork the opposition and do everything you can to garner two points at the end of the night." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Avalanche projected lineup

Derick Brassard -- Nathan MacKinnon -- J.T. Compher
Colin Wilson -- Carl Soderberg -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Matt Calvert
Sven Andrighetto -- Gabriel Bourque -- Ryan Graves
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov -- Patrik Nemeth
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Andrew Agozzino, A.J. Greer
Injured:Mark Barberio (leg), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Gabriel Landeskog (upper body), Matt Nieto (leg)

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Jason Zucker
Jordan Greenway -- Luke Kunin -- Kevin Fiala
Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask -- Pontus Aberg
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Greg Pateryn
Nick Seeler -- Brad Hunt
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Anthony Bitetto
Injured:Mikko Koivu (knee), Mathew Dumba (ruptured right pectoral muscle), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body)

Status report

Landeskog skated on his own in a non-contact jersey Monday but is still weeks away from a return. … Greer was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League on Monday.

Stat pack

Grubauer has two shutouts in his past three games. … Minnesota has scored a power-play goal in three straight games after going 0-for-18 in its previous six.