Wild at Avalanche
The Minnesota Wild hope to strengthen their hold on third place in the Central Division on Friday as they visit the Colorado Avalanche for the finale of their back-to-back road set. Minnesota, which is two points ahead of Dallas for the spot, had their five-game winning streak halted with Thursday's 5-3 setback at Arizona.
Wild captain Mikko Koivu has scored five of his 11 goals on the season over his last 12 contests after converting a power-play opportunity against the Coyotes. Colorado has won the first two contests of its four-game homestand and captured 12 of its last 13 at Pepsi Center. Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Tyson Barrie each recorded a goal and an assist Wednesday to fuel a 5-2 triumph over Calgary for the Avalanche, who trail Anaheim by one point for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. MacKinnon, who leads Colorado with 71 points, has recorded four tallies during his three-game streak and is one shy of his first career 30-goal season.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE WILD (36-21-7): Nino Niederreiter notched his 99th career assist on Thursday, leaving him one point shy of 200 in the NHL. Eric Staal was kept off the scoresheet by Arizona after being named the league's First Star of the Month of February earlier in the day. The 33-year-old center, who leads the team with 33 goals and 64 points, recorded 13 tallies, eight assists and a plus-11 rating as Minnesota posted a 9-2-2 record for the month.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (34-24-5): Anton Lindholm will return to the lineup Friday after missing five games with an upper-body injury. The 23-year-old Swedish defenseman has registered three assists in 43 contests this season and remains in search of his first NHL goal. Blue-liner Duncan Siemens, who was the 11th overall pick in the 2011 draft, scored his first career goal on Wednesday as he recorded Colorado's franchise-record 16th empty-netter of the campaign.
OVERTIME
1. MacKinnon has collected 10 points over his last five games and hasn't been kept off the scoresheet in back-to-back contests since Dec. 23 and 27.
2. Minnesota is 20-1-2 when leading after one period, with the lone regulation loss coming on Thursday.
3. Colorado assigned D David Warsofsky to San Antonio of the American Hockey League.