Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild – COL Leads 2-0
The first game of the series saw a big comeback from the Avalanche, while the second game of the series was one of the most spectacular displays of skill I can remember seeing from one line – Nathan MacKinnon/Paul Stastny/Gabriel Landeskog. The difference so far this series has been the skill of the top guys from Colorado, but it’s a wonder how long that can last.
With the series going back to Minnesota, I expect a little bit of a different team from Colorado. Typically, they had been able to get whatever match-ups they want, but I’d have to think after what the Stastny line did to the Koivu line in Game 1 and 2, they will avoid that from now on. If the Wild can get favorable match-ups elsewhere than that top line, they can really eat away at the depth players of Minnesota. If they don’t find that match-up consistently, I don’t know why this game would be any different than what we’ve seen to date.
Despite the 15 goals in the series between these two teams, only two have them have come on the power play. There have also only been 12 total power plays in the first two games. The value from these two teams come out of the even strength match-ups. The Koivu line has been getting the better underlying numbers against Colorado, but they don’t have the speed to stop them if they get going through the neutral zone.
I might see how Minnesota reacts to line matching before putting my eggs in their basket. For now, I’ll tread lightly around this series and just look for some good value plays deeper on the rosters.
| Top RW Value | Top LW Value | Top C Value | Top D Value | Bargain Bin |
| P.A. Parenteau(COL)$5436 | Matt Moulson(MIN)$8278 | Nathan MacKinnon(COL)$12,992 | Jonas Brodin(MIN)$4037 | Jamie McGinn(COL)$7607 |
