The Stadium Series weekend has come and gone for the Colorado Avalanche and now they must return to focusing on the task at hand. The Wild Card playoff race is tighter than ever, particularly between the Avs and Wild for the eighth spot. Coincidentally, the two will meet for the fourth time this season on Tuesday.
The outdoor events, while a historic day for Colorado sports, was a distraction to the Avalanche schedule and routine. A return to normality could not have come at a better time, as the Avs face their most important stretch of the year.
“It was a great weekend for us. We had a lot of fun,” Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie said Monday morning. “Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted. Now we move on, we move past. We’ve got 18 games left to make the playoffs so we are putting that behind us. It was a good experience, but we are focused.”
The last 10 times the Avalanche have played the Wild, Minnesota has taken home eight victories, which means Colorado will have to come out more focused and intense then they have in the recent pass.
Some attribute the Wild’s past success over the Avalanche to the defensive systems used by their former coach Mike Yeo. These were systems that shut down the Colorado offense and created an immense imbalance in possession, shots and scoring.
Under their new coach, John Torchetti, the Wild have experienced somewhat of a revival in both scoring and winning after a tough stretch to start the 2016 calendar year. In Torchetti’s first four games in charge, the Wild went 4-0 and tallied 21 goals while only giving up eight. They have since cooled down a little, going 1-3 in their most recent four games, but, either way, the change in coaching presents an unknown for Colorado.
The unknowns could help the Avalanche as there is the possibility of a different defensive scheme used by coach Torchetti that could be easier for the Avs to penetrate. At the same time, the increase in scoring and morale the Wild are experiencing could be dangerous.
“They’ve been playing great under this new guy, so we will see what they’ve got for us tomorrow,” Barrie added following Monday’s practice. “We are going to be excited and ready to go. It’s a huge game for us.”
In what may be the biggest game of the year, the Avalanche face a Minnesota team that has frustrated them as of late. In their last ten games against the Wild, the Avs have been capable of scoring an average of just 1.60 goals per game, 1.04 below their 2015-16 season average. Also, in the last ten meetings between the two, the Avalanche have allowed 3.30 goals per game and have been outshot by an average of 10.20 shots.
Of course, the Avalanche are going to be showing the Wild something different this time around as well. The three latest additions in Shawn Matthias, Mikkel Boedker and Eric Gelinas will be a part of this rivalry for the first time. The new faces on both sides of this matchup should provide a different identity to the game Tuesday night, and hopefully for Colorado’s sake, a different result. The additions to the Colorado dressing room should certainly provide an offensive spark and an additional focus as they make their playoff push in these final 18 games.
Colorado is only two points ahead of Minnesota in the eighth and final playoff spot. A loss this evening, though, and the Avs will fall out of playoff positioning, in the standings as the Wild have one less game played than Colorado, giving them a better winning percentage.
Puck drop from Minnesota will be at 6 p.m. MST.
