The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild will meet for the fourth and final time on Sunday. The Wild have won two of the previous three matches and sit nine points back from the Avalanche in the standings. Head coach Jared Bednar has already confirmed that Nazem Kadri will be in the lineup for the Avs. We suspect Kadri will be placed on the third line. Either way, having “The Kadri Man” back is going to pump the team and the crowd up.

Colorado Avalanche (42–10–9, 93 pts)

After ending the trade deadline with a move that no one thought the Avalanche could pull off, Nazem Kadri will make his return to Denver on Sunday afternoon. Colorado then won over the Dallas Stars with a score of 5–4. A scarce power-play tally opened Colorado’s scoring, but Dallas countered with three goals of their own. Nathan MacKinnon nailed another power-play goal, but Jamie Benn buried one to start the second. A sweet wrister by Martin Necas put the game within reach, as Benn missed the open net later on. With only 13.2 seconds left, Valeri Nichushkin hit his 13th of the season to tie the game. Later in the shootout, Necas and Nichushkin would score the deciding goals.

Projected Lines

Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Ross Colton – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly – Nazem Kadri – Nic Roy
Gavin Brindley – Jack Drury – Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Minnesota Wild (37–16–10, 84 pts)

The Wild made a few moves before the deadline to bring Nick Foligno in to play with his brother, Marcus. They also made a move for former Denver Pioneer Bobby Brink. He was with the Pios during their 2022 National Championship run. The Wild have won their last two games; their last win was against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. Recent addition Michael McCarron scored a goal in his first game after being traded from the Nashville Predators. Filip Gustavsson continued to carry the Wild with his 23rd victory of the season, making him one of the top-10 goaltenders in the league.

Projected Lines

Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Matt Boldy – Joel Eriksson Ek – Bobby Brink
Yakov Trenin – Danila Yurov – Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri – Michael McCarron – Nico Sturm

Quinn Hughes – Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – Zach Bogosian

Filip Gustavsson
Jesper Wallstedt

Game Details

Time: 12:00 p.m. MT

Watch: HBO MAX, truTV, TNT

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950