Wild at Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche nearly went from worst to first in the Western Conference and one of the league's biggest surprises hopes to continue their stellar season when they open a first-round playoff series against the visiting Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. A year after posting the fewest points in the West, the Avalanche rode a late-season 8-0-1 spurt to overtake St. Louis for the Central Division title. Colorado dominated the season series with a 4-0-1 mark versus Minnesota.
The Wild stumbled through most of the month of March before regaining their equilibrium and using a 6-0-1 run to wrap up a second consecutive postseason berth. The Wild persevered despite a revolving door that saw four different players inherit the No. 1 goaltender's job, the latest being trade-deadline acquisition Ilya Bryzgalov, who went 7-0-3 with three shutouts before a meaningless loss in the regular-season finale. Minnesota had the seventh stingiest defense in the league, but must slow the Avalanche's fourth-ranked offense.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, CBNC, TSN, FSN North (Minnesota), ALT (Colorado)
ABOUT THE WILD (43-27-12, 4th in Central Division): Bryzgalov was expected to provide insurance in a backup role but he has supplanted rookie Darcy Kuemper, who was struggling before missing the final eight games to injury. Former first-round pick Mikael Granlund returned to practice and will center a line featuring 30-goal scorer Jason Pominville and another late-season acquisition, Matt Moulson. "He's a dynamic player. He's a guy that creates something out of nothing.," Moulson said of Granlund. "He's got some offensive talent that guys dream of having, so it's good to have him back." Forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter, signed to 13-year free-agent deals in July 2012, are both playoff-tested veterans.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (52-22-8, 1st in Central Division): Hall-of-Fame goaltender Patrick Roy presided over a stunning turnaround in his first season as a head coach, so perhaps it's not surprising that netminder Semyon Varlamov has played such an integral role in Colorado's success. "Obviously, our goaltending's been the backbone of our team," forward Paul Stastny said after Varlamov posted a league-best 41 wins to break the franchise record held by Roy. Leading scorer Matt Duchene missed the last seven games with a knee injury and will be unavailable for the first two games versus the Wild, but the Avalanche feature four others players with between 60-65 points, including star rookie and No. 1 overall pick Nathan MacKinnon.
OVERTIME
1. Varlamov went 3-0-1 against the Wild this season to improve his career totals to 7-4-1 with a 2.13 goals-against average against them.
2. Parise has five goals and 12 assists in 16 career meetings versus the Avalanche.
3. While the Avalanche dominated the season series, the Wild have won 10 of the past 14 meetings in Colorado.