Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

First place in the Northwest is on the line tonight as the Avalanche play host to the Minnesota Wild. If the Avalanche were to win, they would then pull even with Vancouver for points and would leapfrog them on the first tie-breaker (points percentage)

But what if it's an overtime win for the Avalanche? Well then things start to get hairy. That would put Colorado, Vancouver and Minnesota in a three-way tie atop the division.

However, once again the Avalanche would come out on top. They'd still use the first tie-breaker against the Canucks and would then whip out tie-breaker #3 against Minnesota which is the head-to-head record between the teams which would be 3-2 in favor of Colorado.

Confused? Good. And hopefully I did the tie breakers right and haven't given anyone false hope of going into another break with the Avalanche flag planted at the top of the NW mountain.

Season Series
The season series between these two teams has benefited from home ice advantage in each of the four previous games so if I were a betting man, my money just might go on the Avalanche tonight.

Starting Goaltender
Jose Theodore gets his 10th straight start tonight after a subpar outing against Nashville on Tuesday. Thankfully Coach Q has decided to keep rolling with one goaltender after realizing that not every loss can be hung at the starting goaltenders feet.

"I think in the first two periods I was fine," said Theodore, who stopped 20-of-21 shots in the first two periods but just 5-of-8 in the third. "But in the third they found a few holes."

You can say that again.

Lineup Changes
David Jones was sent packing yesterday and Scott Parker will take his spot in the lineup. Will Parker and Boogard go at it tonight? One can only hope.

Game time
Puck drop is at 9:08 ET.

And if anyone was hoping for an exciting hockey game tonight, I'm guessing that you'll be disappointed. These two teams are going to trap it up and grind out until someone makes a mistake that can be capitalized on.

Related Links
ColoradoAvalanche.com Preview
Denver Post Preview
Frei on the new Avalanche style
Avalanche Acquire Prospects from Columbus
Russo's Rants (Denver hasn't treated the Wild well)