Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche Preview, Score & Results

Frank Doyle has previews and predictions for all of the NHL playoffs’ opening-round series. This time he breaks down the Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild. See all of Sports Interaction’s NHL odds here.

 Odds: Colorado Avalanche -187, Minnesota Wild +127

Colorado Avalanche:

In his first season behind an NHL bench, Patrick Roy proved just about everybody wrong. He took a young Avalanche team from the basement to the penthouse in one year. Now, we’ll see if this young group is ready for playoff hockey. With Semyon Varlamov in goal, there’s no reason why the Avs can’t make a good run. He will be a Vezina Trophy finalist and has stolen more games for this team than you could count. Colorado has had teams on their heels all season by attacking with speed. The Avalanche ranked fourth in the NHL in goals for, but will be without their top scorer, Matt Duchene. He had 70 points in 71 games before a knee injury put him on the sideline indefinitely. Four other Avs scored 60 points, so they can still light it up, but they’ll need to tighten up defensively. Colorado gave up 32.7 shots per game in the regular season.

Other NHL playoffs series previews and picks:

Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

Anaheim Ducks vs. Dallas Stars

New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche

San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings

Chicago Blackhawks vs. St. Louis Blues

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings

Minnesota Wild:

The Wild have had to overcome a ton of injuries this season but there are lots of reasons why they’re such a short underdog to the No. 1 team in the West. Minnesota has a ton of depth up front and plays a very patient brand of hockey. The Wild made a huge splash in free agency to pick up Ryan Suter and Zach Parise and those two players have been even better than advertised. The real question for Minnesota is in the crease. The team has used four different starting goalies throughout the season and is now relying on the quirky-at-best Ilya Bryzgalov to carry the load. He’s been great since coming over at the trade deadline, but you never know when he might implode.

Key factors:

If Duchene can play in this series, Colorado should beat Minnesota – it’s that simple. That said, don’t bet on him coming back. The difference between regular season hockey and playoff hockey is something that every young player needs to experience before they can understand. With Colorado, you have a handful of the better youngsters in the league, but this could turn out to be a learning experience. If Colorado advances, it will be because Varlamov stole the series.

Prediction:

Minnesota will make a point to target Colorado’s young stars early and often. The Wild have a significant advantage in the size and toughness department and that could be the difference here. Open ice is a rare commodity in the playoffs and Colorado won’t be able to use its speed in the neutral zone as well as it did for the last 82 games. Now we’ll see if they can make the necessary changes to stay alive.

Pick: Minnesota in five games

Results:

Game 1: 5-4 Colorado

Game 2: 4-2 Colorado

Game 3: 1-0 Minnesota (OT)

Game 4:  2-1 Minnesota

Game 5: 4-3 Colorado

Game 6: 5-2 Minnesota