Avalanche vs. Wild, Game 19: Lines, Starting Goalies & Quotes

It’ll be a Central Division showdown on Friday night when the Colorado Avalanche head to Minnesota to take on the Wild.

The Avalanche gave everyone a bit of a scare on Friday morning when Nathan MacKinnon was not on the ice for morning skate, but the superstar will be in the lineup against the Wild. He blocked a shot late in Wednesday’s win over the Canucks and was seen getting x-rays after the game, but appears to be okay.

Sam Girard will not play, and is still away from the team due to personal reasons. I saw the French report today about him suffering from headaches and looking for help from specialists, but there has not been any confirmation of that from the organization. His father posted this earlier today on Facebook, and I just hope everything is okay.

I’ve seen the Sam Girard report and can’t confirm the news, but his father posted this publicly today. Hope all is well. pic.twitter.com/INS3G2INeO

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) November 24, 2023

Alexandar Georgiev will be back in net tonight. With this being the first half of a back-to-back, I’d have to imagine Ivan Prosvetov gets the start against the Flames. I haven’t heard any news regarding Logan O’Connor, and Riley Tufte was not sent down, so I’d assume O’Connor isn’t quite ready.

The Wild will start Filip Gustavsson against the Avalanche. Gustavsson was one of the best goalies in the NHL last year, but like Georgiev, has taken a step back this season. His save percentage is just .882, and his goals against average is a whopping 4.15.

It’s been an incredibly disappointing start to the year for the Wild. Only the Blackhawks have less points in the Central Division, and their GM, Bill Guerin, has mentioned publicly how disappointed he is in their start.

“It has been a rocky start, and I feel for me, the one thing that hasn’t been there is our compete,” Guerin told Daily Faceoff.

Outside of poor goaltending, one of the reasons for their struggles could have to do with their superstar, Kirill Kaprizov, looking human this year. He has just 15 points in 17 games, and only one of his five goals have come at even strength. The team won’t go far with him producing like that.

This is a nationally televised game, so don’t believe the 6:30 game time. Expect puck drop to happen around 6:52 PM MST.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Valeri Nichushkin – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Tomas Tatar – Ryan Johansen – Jonathan Drouin

Miles Wood – Ross Colton – Riley Tufte

Andrew Cogliano – Fredrik Olofsson – Joel Kiviranta

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Bowen Byram –  Josh Manson

Jack Johnson – Caleb Jones

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Ivan Prosvetov

Expected Minnesota Wild Lineup

Kaprizov – Rossi – Zuccarello

Johansson – Gaudreau – Boldy

Foligno – Eriksson-Ek – Hartman

Duhaime – Dewar – Maroon

Defense:

Brodin – Faber

Middleton – Spurgeon

Merrill – Bogosian

Goalies:

Filip Gustavsson

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 19%, 20th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 85.9%, 5th in NHL

Minnesota Wild Power Play: 21.2%, 13th in NHL

Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill: 71.2%, 30th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: TNT

Radio: 92.5 Altitude Radio

Game Time: 6:52 PM MST