On Sunday afternoon, the Colorado Avalanche take on the Minnesota Wild in another Central Division match-up. But it comes with a newly acquired player in Quinn Hughes.

The debate between him and Cale Makar will rage on, now in-division. Minnesota beat the Avs back on November 28 in a shootout, snapping a 10-game win streak.

Colorado Avalanche (25–2–7, 57 pts)

The Avs continued their dominance on home ice with their 12th straight win. It came over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night in a 3–2 final.

Once again, Colorado did not play its best game. But the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas connecting on a beautiful goal helped. Josh Manson also chipped in with two assists and a big-time fight in a feisty game.

Work still needs to be done on the special teams. Even the league’s best PK gave up a goal, and there was a shorthanded goal given up. They’ll need to be better against the newly built Wild on Sunday afternoon to keep the seven-game point streak alive.

Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Valeri Nichushkin – Brock Nelson – Gabriel Landeskog
Parker Kelly – Ross Colton – Victor Olofsson
Joel Kiviranta – Jack Drury – Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Samuel Girard – Sam Malinski

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Minnesota Wild (22–9–5, 49 pts)

Minnesota took Saturday afternoon’s game against the Edmonton Oilers in a big 5–2 victory. It marks this game against the Avs as the second leg of a back-to-back.

The Wild are third in the Central Division, with the Dallas Stars sandwiched in between them and Colorado. Those three teams also make up the top three teams in the entire NHL. Thus, the Hughes transfer proved logical for a team vying with top contenders.


Going the other way to the Vancouver Canucks were Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and former DU Pioneer Zeev Buium. But the missing players after the trade haven’t hurt the Wild, who have won five games since, and have gone 8–2–0 in their last 10 games. This game against Colorado is another good benchmark to see where they stand against another top team in the league.

Projected Lines

Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson –  Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Yakov Trenin – Danila Yurov – Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno – Nico Sturm – Vinnie Hinostroza

Quinn Hughes – Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – David Jiricek

Jesper Wallstedt
Filip Gustavsson

Game Details

Time: 4:00 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, FDSNNO (MIN), FDSNWIX (MIN), ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM