Avalanche vs. Wild, Game 74: Lines, Starting Goalies & How to Watch

A very meaningful game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild late in the season? It doesn’t get much better than that.

The winner of Wednesday night’s matchup will walk away with a much better shot at winning the Central Division this season. If the Avalanche come out on top in regulation or overtime, they’ll jump the Wild in the standings while still holding a game in hand. A Wild win, especially in regulation, makes it more difficult for the Avalanche to jump over them. Colorado has won both matchups this year, with tonight being the final time the two teams will play each other in the regular season.

For the Avalanche, don’t expect many changes. At morning skate, their powerplay looked the same as it has the past few weeks. And why change it? That same powerplay has connected for a goal in 12 straight games.

The Avalanche don’t practice line rushes in the morning, but any change would be a surprise. Alexandar Georgiev is expected to start in net.

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As for the Wild, they’ll be missing Ryan Reaves and Brandon Duhaime up front. Sam Steel will step into the lineup, and John Klingberg will return on defense. They’re still without their leading scorer, Kirill Kaprizov, who has missed the last few weeks with a lower-body injury.

Filip Gustavsson will start in net for the road team.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Valeri Nichushkin – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Alex Newhook – J.T. Compher – Evan Rodrigues

Andrew Cogliano – Darren Helm – Logan O’Connor

Matt Nieto – Lars Eller – Denis Malgin

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard – Bowen Byram

Jack Johnson – Erik Johnson

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Jonas Johansson

Expected Minnesota Wild Lines, per DailyFaceoff.com

Foligno – Hartman – Zuccarello

Johansson – Eriksson-Ek – Boldy

Steel – Gaudreau – Sundsvist

Shaw – Dewar

Defense:

Middleton – Spurgeron

Brodin – Dumba

Merrill – Klingberg

Goligoski

Goalies:

Gustavsson

Fleury

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 25.7%, 2nd in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 79.5%, 16th in NHL

Minnesota Wild Power Play: 21.9%, 12th in NHL

Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill: 80.6%, 13th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: TNT

Radio: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5

Game Time: 8:00 PM MST