Avalanche at Wild
If the Hart Trophy were handed out today, Devan Dubnyk could be the one to grab it because the Minnesota Wild would be nowhere without their red-hot goaltender. Dubnyk leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.48), save percentage (.952) and shutouts (four) as Minnesota tries to start showing more support for its last line of defense when it hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
Minnesota scored 10 goals in its first seven November games - eight in Dubnyk's six starts, but the 30-year-old former first-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers isn't worried. "I've got no question in here that these guys can put the puck in the net. Sometimes it takes something like that to turn it around," Dubnyk told reporters after Mikael Granlund's fluke goal with 44.5 seconds left gave the Wild a 1-0 victory over Boston on Thursday. The Avalanche, who own the second-fewest goals in the NHL with 33 through 16 games, played without captain Gabe Landeskog (lower-body injury) and Matt Duchene (concussion) in a 3-2 loss at Dallas on Thursday. Colorado defeated Minnesota 1-0 on Nov. 5 in the first meeting of the season, at least temporarily derailing the Wild's recent dominance in the series as they won four of five meetings in 2014-15 and in 2015-16 after defeating the Avalanche in seven games in a first-round Stanley Cup playoff series in 2014.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FSN North Plus (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (7-9-0): First-year coach Jared Bednar told reporters Wednesday he expected Landeskog and Duchene to play against Dallas, but the captain didn't make the trip and Duchene said he still wasn't right after the morning skate and missed his third game. Rookie A.J. Greer was called up for the second time this week from San Antonio of the AHL and the 19-year-old recorded his first NHL point with an assist Thursday while playing on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Andreas Martinsen. With Duchene (six goals) and Landeskog (four) out of the lineup, Rene Bourque (five) is the only Colorado player with more than three goals.
ABOUT THE WILD (9-6-1): Eric Staal is enjoying his first season in Minnesota with team bests of five goals and 13 points, recording five (one goal) in the three games prior to Minnesota's 1-0 loss to Calgary on Tuesday. Zach Parise recorded four shots on goal and averaged more than 19 minutes of ice time in two games since missing six with a foot injury. Defensemen account for eight of the Wild's 42 goals as Ryan Suter leads the way with four while boasting a team-best plus-9 rating.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche yielded three power-play goals in their last two games (11 chances) while Minnesota is 0-for-10 with the extra man in its last four contests.
2. Dubnyk allowed nine goals in his last nine games, a stretch that began with three consecutive shutouts.
3. Colorado RW Jarome Iginla has two goals this season but hasn't scored in his last eight contests. He is 16th on the career goals list with 613 in 1,490 games and trails Avalanche executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic by 12 for 15th all-time.