3 Things to Watch: Wild at Avalanche, Game 1 of Western Conference 2nd Round

(3C) Minnesota Wild at (1C) Colorado Avalanche

Western Conference Second Round, Game 1

9 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, SN, TVAS, CBC

DENVER -- Quinn Hughes vs. Cale Makar on defense. Nathan MacKinnon vs. Kirill Kaprizov among the forwards. Whether you focus on the individual matchups or team vs. team, it should be quite the machup between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Second Round, which begins at Ball Arena on Sunday. 

The two had their tussles in the regular season, each taking a convincing win off the other (Avalanche 5-1 win on Dec. 21; Wild 5-2 victory on Feb. 26) and two other games going to shootouts.

“I mean, there are definitely aspects of those games and parts of the way we played them,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “We can study that and see what we can do more of and a lot of things that they’re trying to do we can study and see where we can be better defending them and maybe where we have some holes in our game.

“The chess match started in the regular season, and now it carries on to this series. We expect it to be tough and tight-checking, so should be a lot of fun.”

The Wild arrive with plenty of energy from their first-round win against the Dallas Stars, the first time they’ve advanced in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2014-15.

“It’s Christmas morning,” forward Marcus Foligno said. “We’d (usually) be planning a team year-end party now, and I’m getting sick of those. I’ll take Colorado; I’ll even take Team Canada, Team USA in seven games. It’s one of those things, it’s awesome to be here.

“Dallas prepped us really well and we’re playing a really good team again. The attention to detail, the focus has to be there again. Everyone who’s advanced to Round 2 is probably playing at their peak right now. No matter what team you’re going to get, you’re going to get a really, really good hockey team.”

This is the fourth time the Avalanche and Wild have met in the postseason, and the first since 2014, when Minnesota won in seven games. 

Here are 3 things to watch in Game 1:

1. Makar vs. Hughes

Two of the best defensemen in the NHL, they’ve already faced off against each other plenty, be it in regular-season games or in the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. 

It’s just a joy to watch these two. They even enjoy the talk about the two of them.

“It's just funny, like pretty cool to have been able to come in (the NHL) with him,” Hughes said. “He's a year older (27), but pretty much the same age, and there are so many great defensemen in the League right now, honestly. You want to play the best and have that opportunity, this series with Colorado, and I think it's just a great opportunity to go up against those guys. They’ve got a great team, we’ve got a great team. Just looking forward to the matchup.” 

2. Wild weathering injuries

Neither defenseman Jonas Brodin nor forward Joel Eriksson Ek made the trip here and will miss the first two games of the series.

With three days in between Games 2 and 3, the Wild will reevaluate them before Game 3 in Minnesota on Saturday. That may especially be true of Eriksson Ek, their second-line center who sustained a lower-body injury in their 5-2 win in Game 6 of the first round.

“When you have a player like him out that plays so many different situations, one player isn’t going to take the brunt of that responsibility,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “On his power play responsibility, someone else will have to take that. His center (work), 5-on-5, someone else will have to take that, his penalty killing … when you lose a guy that plays that many situations, you have to do it collectively as a group and it’s not all on one guy.”

3. Blankenburg’s challenge

Nick Blankenburg was inserted by the Avalanche for Game 4 of the first round for defenseman Josh Manson (upper body) after the latter sustained his injury in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings. What Blankenburg will have to adjust to this series is dealing with the extra physicality the Wild are expected to bring.

“It’s going to be a challenge for him tonight, because the thing we’ll miss with (Manson) is the size, the strength, the physicality against their bottom six (forwards), which is obviously huge,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. 

Manson is 6-foot-3 and 218 pounds; Blankenburg is 5-9, 177.

“He’s going to have to just defend smartly -- that’s using your legs, using your stick,” Bednar said. “He still has that grit and physical edge to his game, but he has to be careful against bigger bodies tonight.”

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson -- Danila Yurov -- Matt Boldy

Vladimir Tarasenko -- Michael McCarron -- Yakov Trenin

Marcus Foligno -- Nico Sturm -- Nick Foligno

Quinn Hughes -- Brock Faber

Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon

Zach Bogosian -- Jeff Petry

Jesper Wallstedt

Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Hunter Haight, Daemon Hunt, Matt Kiersted, Bobby Brink, Calvin Petersen

Injured: Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), Jonas Brodin (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Martin Necas

Gabriel Landeskog-- Brock Nelson -- Valeri Nichushkin

Ross Colton -- Nazem Kadri -- Nicolas Roy

Parker Kelly -- Jack Drury -- Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Brett Kulak -- Sam Malinski

Nick Blankenburg -- Brent Burns

Scott Wedgewood

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scratched: Zakhar Bardakov, Isak Posch

Injured: Josh Manson (upper body), Joel Kiviranta (undisclosed)

Status report

The Wild held an optional morning skate. … Eriksson Ek, a forward who was injured during a 5-2 win against the Stars in Game 6 of the first round on Thursday, and Brodin, a defenseman who didn’t play in Game 6, will miss at least the first two games of this series. … Manson, a defenseman, will miss his second straight game. … Kiviranta, a forward who hasn’t practiced since the Avalanche eliminated the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 on April 26, is not expected to play.