Pluses, minuses for Blackhawks-Maple Leafs, Avalanche-Wild

NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his thoughts for big games each week throughout the season.

The Chicago Blackhawks (16-31-5) play the Toronto Maple Leafs (32-14-8) at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS, SN). Then the Colorado Avalanche (28-19-5) face the Minnesota Wild (28-20-5) at Xcel Energy Center (9:30 p.m. ET; TNT).
Here's my breakdown of the games.

Blackhawks

Pluses: Max Domi has 14 goals and 35 points, each of which is tied for the Blackhawks lead. He played for coach Luke Richardson in Montreal when Richardson was an assistant and has shown he fits nicely with his system. I've been impressed with some of the younger players, including forward Taylor Raddysh, who has more goals (14) and points (24) than he did in his first two NHL seasons combined (11 goals, 22 points), and forward Philipp Kurashev (21 points). With the way things have gone for Chicago this season, it's a chance for everyone to prove they deserve spots on the team next season.

Minuses: They were shut out by the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Tuesday and have lost six of eight (2-5-1). They have scored the fewest goals in the League (2.40) and allowed the fifth most (3.62). It's been a very difficult season for them and Domi, along with franchise icons Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, could be dealt between now and the NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.

Maple Leafs

Pluses:Good news for the Maple Leafs as Auston Matthews will play for the first time since Jan. 25 after missing five games with a knee injury. Mitch Marner (64 points) and William Nylander (61 points) are having MVP-type seasons, and John Tavares (53 points) and Matthews (53) give Toronto four players with at least 50 points, tied with the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers for the most in the NHL. Goalie Ilya Samsonov likely will start; he is 15-2-1 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in 18 games at Scotiabank Arena this season.

Minuses:Toronto has lost three of its past five games (2-3-0) to fall into third in the Atlantic Division, a spot they haven't been in in a while. Goalie Matt Murray is on injured reserve because of an ankle injury and hasn't played in a month. Toronto plays Chicago twice in the next three games and can't take them lightly.

Avalanche

Pluses:They had a tough 4-3 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday in which they had 46 shots on goal, but they are 8-2-2 in their past 12 games. This is a big game in the Central Division, as Colorado and Minnesota are tied for third place, each with 61. We know Nathan MacKinnon is MacKinnon, but how about Mikko Rantanen? He leads the Avalanche with 34 goals and 63 points and is playing like an MVP. They definitely had a Stanley Cup hangover and have been ravaged with injuries, but they're in a nice spot right now heading down the stretch.

Minuses:They've been without captain
Gabriel Landeskog
for the entire season following offseason knee surgery. Forward Darren Helm (lower body), defensemen Erik Johnson (lower body) and Cale Makar (head), and goalie Pavel Francouz (lower body) also are injured. The fact that the Avalanche are in the playoff mix considering everything they've gone through is pretty amazing.

Wild

Pluses:Kirill Kaprizov is having another MVP-type season with 30 goals and 63 points, and with 29 games remaining should pass 40 goals and 100 points again this season. Mats Zuccarello also has been a focal point of the offense with 52 points (19 goals, 33 assists) and they have five players with double-digit goals. Plus they are good on special teams, ranking in the top 10 on the power play (23.5 percent, tied for ninth) and penalty kill (81.0 percent, 10th).

Minuses: The Wild won 53 games last season but have looked nothing like that team this season. They can't seem to string winning streaks together. They've scored nine non-shootout goals in their past six games and can't afford to keep giving points away. Minnesota has missed the playoffs once in the past 10 seasons but could be on the outside looking in this spring if they don't turn it around quickly.