Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

After my Hockey Talk Day post, combined with a bunch of technical and process documentation writing at work, I'm near all writ out. I don't know if there's a word I haven't used today. Maybe discombobulate. Ok, now that's all of them.

But I'll soldier on so I don't get jaded. And because I'm kind of bored after work.

Preview
After hanging on for a 4-3 win against the Lightning, the Avs are now in the hockey hotbed of St. Paul, Minnesota. And no, that wasn't facetious. Minnesota loves their hockey and I love them for it.

The Avs are on a five-game road losing streak in the regular season to the Wild and I think it's high time they put an end to it.

But a win against the Wild won't come as easy as a win against the Lightning.

The Wild are 14-7-1 this season and are only in 2nd place in the Northwest because Vancouver has played two more games.

They give up a stingy 2.14 goals per game which is second only to the surprising Boston Bruins (by 0.02 g/g)

Couple that with Colorado's 2nd-last goal scoring pace of 2.41 goals per game, and this could have disaster written all over.

But I remain confident in the Avs ability to overcome this. Why? Because it's Hockey Talk Day where nary a bad thing should be said about hockey.

Goaltending
After a day off for both team's starters, it will be Peter Budaj vs Niklas Backstromg tonight. And remember, Peter Budaj has already out-dueled on elite goaltender this year. And I bet he's just itching to do it again.

Injuries
Nothing new here. Joe Sakic and Adam Foote have not made the trip. And of course Darcy Tucker and Ben Guite remain on the IR.

Scouting
The Wild's no-name line - and again, I don't mean that in a derogatory way - of Andrew Brunette-Mikko Koivu-Antti Miettinen have combined for 58 points on the season. Stop them and you have a good shot at taking out the Wild. Ok, a better shot.

And Andrew Brunette is scoring on over 25% of his shots so it's imperative to keep an eye out for the crafty vet. I think we all know what he can do around the net.

Game time
Puck drops at 8:00 ET. And if you aren't local to Minnesota or Colorado, you might want to check out MyP2P. For no reason. Just to browse.

Related Links
Tjarnqvist gets inside scoop on Wild