Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Colorado

The essentials

The opponent

The Avalanche is coming off a decisive win against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, still very much in the playoff race after taking two points in a must-win game.
Forward Nathan MacKinnon leads the team in nearly every statistical category, including 71 points (29-42=71) despite missing eight games. One of those goals and two assists came against Minnesota this season.
Goaltenders Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier have split the action almost evenly for Colorado; Bernier has started 29 games while Varlamov has started 34, including Wednesday against Calgary.
Devan Dubnyk is expected to start in net against the Avalanche after Alex Stalock got the nod Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes. Dubnyk is 16-9-1 in his career against Colorado, with four of his wins coming from shutouts -- his most victories and shutouts against any NHL team.
The Wild and Avalanche have split the 2017-18 campaign so far, with each team winning in front of its home crowd. After Thursday's games, Colorado sits one point outside of the Western Conference's second and final wild card spot, while Minnesota remains third in the Central Division (two points ahead of Dallas).

Connections

• Wild defenseman Gustav Olofsson spent part of his childhood in Colorado and played one season at Colorado College.
• Wild winger Jason Zucker skated two seasons at the University of Denver.
• Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson is from Bloomington.
• Avalanche forward Dominic Toninato hails from Duluth and played four seasons for the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Birthday boy

Wild forward Charlie Coyle is celebrating his 26th birthday Friday -- and it just happens to fall on a game day against a team he has done particularly well against. Coyle has posted eight goals and six points in 25 games against the Avalanche throughout his career.

Back to backs

Friday, the Wild finishes its 11th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, after falling in Glendale to the Coyotes on Thursday night. Minnesota is 5-5-1 on the first night of action and 4-5-1 on the second night of play.
The Wild will return to action on home ice on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings following its brief road trip.
Related:
- Missed opportunities cost Wild in loss to Coyotes - Wild turns page on red-hot February - Staal named NHL's First Star of the Month for February