Avalanche at Wild
THE STORY: There is perhaps no other team in the NHL that could have used the two-day holiday break more than the Minnesota Wild. The surprise team of the first two months as they shot into first place in the Western Conference, the Wild suffered six consecutive losses to enter the Christmas break. Minnesota wasn’t exactly scoring in bunches on its way up the standings, but lately things have gotten worse offensively. The Wild have scored one or no goals in five of their last six games and are have had the injury bug hit top players like Mikko Koivu and Devin Setoguchi. Hoping to take advantage of Minnesota on Monday will be the visiting the Northwest Division rival Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche just finished up a 4-0-0 homestand, pushing over .500 for the first time since Nov. 10 with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, ALT (Colorado), FSNO (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (18-17-1): Colorado is unstoppable at home, winning eight straight at the Pepsi Center. The road has been a different story. The Avalanche have not won away from home ice since a 5-4 shootout victory at Chicago on Oct. 22 - the last in a string of six road wins to begin the season. Colorado had success on its last homestand behind G Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who started all four games while yielding two goals or less in each.
ABOUT THE WILD (20-11-5): Koivu is expected to be back in the lineup on Monday, allowing Minnesota to push back its centers and perhaps get something going on a power play that has been shut out in 10 chances over the last four games. Setoguchi is still on injured reserve and Guillaume Latendresse is out indefinitely with a concussion, putting more pressure on Dany Heatley to produce.
OVERTIME:
1. Giguere made 17 saves in a 1-0 loss to the Wild on Nov. 17 and owns a 9-10-2-3 record in 24 career starts against Minnesota.
2. The Wild have taken four straight and five of six in the series.
3. Heatley has not had a multi-point game since Nov. 8.