SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild will battle it out to see who will secure their place in the Central Division. Colorado is coming off a six-game win streak, while the Wild have lost their last two games.

Nathan MacKinnon is currently the hottest player in the NHL with 12 points in his last five games. The Wild have been slipping down the standings and struggle to maintain the Wild Card spot and tonight may determine their fate for the rest of the season.

Colorado Avalanche (39-24-2) Previous Game

The Avalanche did exactly what they needed to, avoided a season sweep by the Chicago Blackhawks. Colorado walked away with a 3–0 win to sweep their six-game home stand. Nathan MacKinnon showed the Hawks who was boss with a two assist night to achieve 1,000 career points.

Goaltender Scott Wedgewood certainly tried to steal the show with several fantastic saves throughout the night to keep Colorado In the game. His shutout would be his eighth of his career and second of the season.

Again, depth scoring showed up for the Avalanche as Joel Kiviranta netted his career high 14th goal of the season.

Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Jonathan Drouin — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Joel Kiviranta — Charlie Coyle — Ross Colton
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Ryan Lindgren — Josh Manson
Samuel Girard — Sam Malinski

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scott Wedgewood

Scratches: Erik Johnson, Miles Wood, Keaton Middleton

Minnesota Wild (36-24-4) Previous Game

The Minnesota Wild let Sidney Crosby steal the show in their last game against the Pittsburg Penguins. Crosby had two goals on his former teammates Marc-Andre Fluery to help secure a win for the Penguins.

Minnesota’s special teams underperformed. They had six chances on the power play and only converting once on a Ryan Hartman goal in the third period. Even with so many chances, the Wild could only get 22 shots on net and the one goal past Tristan Jarry.

Minnesota Wild Lines

Matt Boldy — Marco Rossi — Vinnie Hinostroza
Marcus Johansson — Frederick Gaudreau — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno — Ryan Hartman – -Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin — Devin Shore — Justin Brazeau

Jacob Middleton — Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm — Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill — Zach Bogosian

Filip Gustavsson

Marc-Andre Fluery

Scratches: Ryan Graves, Danton Heinen

Game Details

Time: 6 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude Sports

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM