Minnesota Wild at Avalanche Game 1: The Real Test Begins, Lines, Notes & How To Watch

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The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche open their second-round series against the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:10 pm MT and will be broadcast nationally on TNT.

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Key Stories to Watch

  • The Avalanche are set to play their first game in a week, and it’ll be against the No. 3 Minnesota Wild, who defeated the higher seeded No. 2 Dallas Stars in six games in the opening round. The Avs enter the matchup with four straight wins, while Minnesota won three consecutive games after trailing 2-1 to the Stars earlier in their series.
  • Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes are the two most recent Norris Trophy winners, and they’ll go head-to-head in what’s expected to be a highly skilled matchup between the two puck-moving defensemen. Hughes has never scored against the Avalanche in his career and has lost two of three games against Colorado since being moved to the Wild.
  • Similar to the opening round against Los Angeles Kings goalie Anton Forsberg, the Avalanche are likely facing another goalie who started the season as the backup. Like Scott Wedgewood, Colorado’s backup coming into 2025-26, Jesper Wallstedt has handled goaltending duties for Minnesota with Filip Gustavsson serving as the backup. Wallstedt has a .924 save percentage in six playoff starts and Wedgewood is at .950.
  • I asked Jared Bednar about the number of goalies that were backups when the year started and now taking the reins in the playoffs. His response: “Now I’m not the only one open to criticism, which I really don’t give a crap about. It’s a ‘what have you done for me lately’ league, right? It’s why there are changes, adaptations to lineups.”
  • Josh Manson will not play for the Avalanche. He’ll miss his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury, leaving Nick Blankenburg in the lineup and on the third pair with Brent Burns.
  • Minnesota is missing not one, but two key pieces of their lineup. Center Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin both did not make the trip and will miss the first two games in Denver. Head coach John Hynes said Eriksson Ek is hopeful for Game 3, when the series shifts to Minnesota. Brodin will be reevaluated after Game 2.

Projected Avalanche Lines (subject to change)

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Ross Colton — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Gabriel Landeskog — Nazem Kadri — Nicolas Roy
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Brett Kulak — Sam Malinski
Nikc Blankenburg — Brent Burns

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Projected Kings Lines (subject to change)

Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Danila Yurov — Matt Boldy
Yakov Trenin —Michael McCarron — Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno — Nick Foligno — Nico Sturm

Quinn Hughes — Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jeff Petry — Zach Bogosian

Jesper Wallstedt
Filip Gustavsson

Projected Starters (subject to change)

  • Confirmed: Scott Wedgewood (COL)
  • Expected: Jesper Wallstedt (MIN)

Avalanche Injuries

  • Josh Manson (upper body, day to day)
  • Joel Kiviranta (TBD, day to day)

Kings Injuries

  • Jonas Brodin (lower body, day to day)
  • Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body, day to day)

How to Watch

  • TV: TNT
  • Radio: 92.5 FM

Playoff Series Head-to-Head

  • Game 1 vs Minnesota Wild (May 3 at 7 pm MT)
  • Game 2 vs Minnesota Wild (May 5 at 6 pm MT)
  • Game 3 at Minnesota Wild (May 9 at 7 pm MT)
  • Game 4 at Minnesota Wild (May 11 at TBD)
  • Game 5 vs Minnesota Wild (May 13 if necessary)
  • Game 6 at Minnesota Wild (May 15 if necessary)
  • Game 7 vs Minnesota Wild (May 17 if necessary)

Regular Season Head-to-Head

  • Nov. 28 at Minnesota Wild (L, 3-2 SO)
  • Dec. 21 at Minnesota Wild (W, 5-1)
  • Feb. 26 vs Minnesota Wild (L, 5-2)
  • March 8 vs Minnesota Wild (W, 3-2 SO)

Overall Playoff Results

  • R1, G1 vs Los Angeles Kings (W, 2-1)
  • R1, G2 vs Los Angeles Kings (W, 2-1 OT)
  • R1, G3 at Los Angeles Kings (W, 4-2)
  • R1, G4 at Los Angeles Kings (W, 5-1)

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