A Wild Night in the State of Hockey

It always amazes me how long this rivalry has lasted. The Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild have been going at it for almost a quarter-century now. The Wild are our longest serving division foes, even longer than the Montreal Canadiens back when we were the Quebec Nordiques. The Wild debuted in 2000, and were placed in the old Northwest Division with the Avs. The two teams have been in the current Central Division since 2013, and even in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, the two teams were in the localized West Division. Plain and simple, we can't get away from the Wild.

Coming off a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Avs started off the 25th year (24th of play) of this crazy rivalry, which has included three playoff meetings. The Wild were off to a good start this season, but they've been hit by the injury bug badly. Kirill Kaprizov, the Thrill himself, is among those sidelined. It truly showed in this game.

Mackenzie Blackwood was in net against Filip Gustavsson, and the Avs struck very quickly. Logan O'Connor made it 1-0 at just 3:46 into the opening, and Josh Manson had the only assist. Game was pretty back and forth; Wild had a close call or two, but on the other end, Ross Colton made it 2-0. Less than two minutes later, Zach Bogosian put Minnesota on the board, and the assists came from Frederick Gaudreau and Yakov Trenin; the latter having been with the Avs last year.

Colorado led 2-1 after 20 minutes, with only one power play in that frame, which belonged to the Avs. We received another one in the second, that was knocked off, and I'll just clear the air. The power play? Not a factor at all in this game. Didn't need to be. Only one goal overall in the second, and it was the Moose. Mikko Rantanen with his 25th of the season, with Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin assisting. Avs led 3-1 after two periods, and in the third, we just poured it on. After a power play of ours gets knocked off, Parker Kelly makes it 4-1, with Joel Kiviranta and Logan O'Connor assisting. Wild got a power play, but Manson steals the puck and passes it to Artturi Lehkonen, who puts it in past Gustavsson. The rest of the PP gets killed off, and right afterwards, MacKinnon gets one of his own.

6-1 was the final score in favor of the Avs! What a response after that loss in Chicago. Six different Avs players scored. MacKinnon and Rantanen only had two points each. You know whose name was not heard in all of this? Cale Makar. Frightening, isn't it? Entering this game, I said as a bit of a joke, "Makar will win the Norris unopposed," though it wasn't until a few hours later that I learned that he does have a very worthy foe in the form of Zach Werenski. But regarding this game, Makar had no points in this whole thing. Again, that's scary. Yes, this was a severely undermanned Wild team, but this team is standing strong in the always monstrous Central. The Avs flattened them. Sighted Wild, sank same.

So the Avs are 1-1 in the three game road trip, and it concludes in Winnipeg against the Jets. Another big four-point game that could really move us within striking distance of first place if we get this baby done in regulation.

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