2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Wild vs. Avalanche Western 2nd Round preview

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features eight teams in eight best-of-7 series. Today, NHL.com previews the Western Conference Second Round between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche.

(3C) Minnesota Wild vs. (1C) Colorado Avalanche

Wild: 46-24-12, 104 points

Avalanche: 55-16-11, 121 points

Season series: MIN: 2-1-1; COL: 2-1-1

Game 1: Sunday at Colorado (9 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, SN, TVAS, CBC)

The Minnesota Wild slayed their personal playoff dragon, advancing past the first round for the first time since 2014-15 by defeating the Dallas Stars in six games. Now they’ll prepare for their next test against the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Presidents’ Trophy for having the best record in the NHL.

Minnesota, which finished third in the Central Division, eliminated second-place Dallas in their 5-2 win on Thursday. It was a big step for the Wild, but they hope it’s just the first step.

“We didn't have the goal to win the first round. You dream big. You set high expectations for yourself and each other. It's been like that the whole series, I think too, onto the next mentality,” Minnesota forward Matt Boldy said. “You can't change the past and I think that's something we handled very well going down 2-1 (against the Stars). Just kind of getting out of your own head, honestly.

“Yeah, it's nice to win, but at the same time we're all pretty excited to get to Colorado and get that game going. You enjoy it, learn as much as you can, but it's onto the next mentality."

The Avalanche have been resting after defeating the Los Angeles Kings in four games, finishing with a 5-1 win on April 26. It may have been a sweep, but the games against the Kings weren’t easy, and the Avalanche are taking what they’ve learned in that series.

“Patience, No. 1. We were very patient with our game plan,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “When you break the game down in between periods and segments within the period, I thought our patience was great. Not forcing anything, not getting away from it.

“Sometimes it’s easy to get frustrated or start forcing things when you’re not scoring as much as you’d like to or the game doesn’t look the way you want it to. Regardless of what the score was or the outcome, per period or per game, we just kept sticking with it. I like that a lot. The patience we’re going to have to continue with. It was a good first round and now we’re resting up and ready for the next one.”

The Avalanche and Wild have faced each other in the postseason three times, the most recent meeting coming in 2013-14 when Minnesota eliminated Colorado in seven games in the first round.

“I think there's a lot of things you can draw on with the identity of the team and how we played,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “There will probably be some different nuances with Colorado, but I think in general as you continue to move forward it starts with the guys’ commitment to play the way they have played throughout the series. From there, we'll take a look at Colorado, but let the guys enjoy this one tonight, come in tomorrow and reset.”

Game breakers

Wild: Kirill Kaprizov hasn't disappointed with his performance this postseason, leading Minnesota in assists (seven) and tied for the lead with Boldy in points (nine). The forward’s strength lies in his combination of puck protection and deception, allowing him to create time and space even against structured playoff defenses. His confidence with the puck and willingness to compete below the goal line make him difficult to match physically, which helped him drive offense against the Stars and tilt momentum in Minnesota's favor at key moments in the series.

Avalanche: It’s still Nathan MacKinnon. Sure, the center didn’t get his first postseason goal until Game 4 against the Kings, but he’s a threat every time he takes the ice. MacKinnon won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, awarded to the player with the most regular-season goals (53) for a reason. He had four points (two goals, two assists) in four games against Los Angeles, and you know he’s going to add to that total as the postseason continues.

Goaltending

Wild: Jesper Wallstedt was given reigns from the outset, and the 23-year-old rookie made the most of his opportunity with a 2.05 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in six games (4-2). Wallstedt’s biggest strengths are his calm presence, strong positional play, and coming up big when it matters most. Against the Stars, he did a great job of controlling rebounds and forcing shooters to make perfect plays to beat him. His poise and steadying presence enabled him to deliver timely saves.

Avalanche: Scott Wedgewood took his opportunity and ran with it. The 33-year-old made the first playoff start of his NHL career in the first round. He was outstanding, going 4-0 with a 1.21 GAA and .950 save percentage. Coach Jared Bednar said he could still go to Mackenzie Blackwood in the postseason. Blackwood was 23-10-2 with a 2.51 GAA, .904 save percentage and three shutouts in 39 regular-season games (36 starts). For now, though, it’s Wedgewood.

Numbers to know

Wild: Minnesota dominated Dallas at even strength in the series, outscoring the Stars 17-5 at even strength and 14-4 at 5-on-5. Boldy leads the Wild with five even-strength goals and Boldy, Kaprizov and defenseman Quinn Hughes each have seven even-strength points.

Avalanche: Cale Makar won the Norris Trophy, awarded annually to the League’s best defenseman, last season and in 2021-22. Now he’ll face Hughes, who won the Norris in 2023-24. It’ll be the fifth series in NHL history when Norris winners from each of the past two seasons faced each other. The others featured Detroit and Anaheim (Nicklas Lidstrom and Scott Niedermayer in the 2007 Western Conference Final), Detroit and St. Louis (Lidstrom and Chris Pronger in the 2002 second round), Montreal and Boston (Chris Chelios and Ray Bourque in the 1990 division final) as well as Montreal and Detroit (Doug Harvey and Red Kelly in the 1956 Stanley Cup Final).

They said it

"This is a new team. We write our own story. Every team has their own story. Every team has their own ups and downs. We knew we were the better team, we just had to go prove it and that's what we did. It's on to round two now. You flush this. It doesn't matter anymore. We've got another series to win." -- Wild defenseman Brock Faber on advancing

“I feel it gives us time to get some guys’ bodies right. Just these practices doing 5-on-5. Throughout the year the schedule was such a grind we didn’t really have the opportunity to do that a lot. Just having everybody on the ice. It’s good for the group to be out there. We’re hanging out on and off the ice and just trying to figure some stuff out.” -- Avalanche forward Ross Colton on their break between rounds

Will win if …

Wild: They slow Colorado’s speed through tight neutral zone structure and disciplined gap control, as they did against Dallas, and limit rush chances for stars like MacKinnon and Makar. Winning the goaltending and special teams battle is critical and the Wild need consistent physical forechecking and secondary scoring to wear down Colorado’s defense and avoid relying solely on top-line production.

Avalanche: Their defense continues to shine. Yes, the Avalanche are known for their scoring, and they have the depth to get a little from everyone there. But they take great pride in their defense and goaltending, and they’ll need both against the Wild, who are averaging 3.83 goals per game in the playoffs, second to the Anaheim Ducks (4.33). Colorado, however, may be starting the second round without defenseman Josh Manson, who sustained an upper-body injury in Game 3 and missed Game 4 against Los Angeles. He did not practice Wednesday or Thursday.

How they look

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy

Yakov Trenin -- Michael McCarron -- Vladimir Tarasenko

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, Viking Gustafsson-Nyberg, Daemon Hunt, Matt Kiersted, Danila Yurov, Bobby Brink

Injured: Jonas Brodin (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Martin Necas

Gabriel Landeskog -- Brock Nelson -- Valeri Nichushkin

Ross Colton -- Nazem Kadri -- Nicholas Roy

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

Brett Kulak -- Cale Makar

Devon Toews -- Sam Malinski

Nick Blankenburg -- Brent Burns

Scott Wedgewood

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scratched: Zakhar Barkadov, Joel Kiviranta

Injured: Josh Manson (upper body)

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen and senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report