The red-hot Colorado Avalanche will be looking to continue their winning ways on Wednesday evening in a tough matchup with the Minnesota Wild, a Central Division rival who are just slightly ahead of them at the moment. The puck drops between these two foes at 10 PM ET at Ball Arena in Denver. Colorado is enjoying a three-game unbeaten streak and just trashed the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 on Monday, while Minnesota also beat the Seattle Kraken by the exact same scoreline on Monday as well. They’ve collected two victories in a row. Keep reading for the Wild vs Avalanche prediction.
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Colorado is the favorite here with -152 odds at BetOnline. The Wild come back at +137. The total in goals is set at six. However, three of the last four meetings comfortably hit the under. The Avs have also won back-to-back games against Minny.
Minnesota is currently leading the Central, but with just a one-point lead, a loss Wednesday would drop them into second. Dallas is also just three points behind the Wild. Therefore, things can change in a hurry. Minny is playing top-notch hockey at the moment, though, going 7-2-1 in their last ten contests. That includes wins over the likes of Washington, St. Louis, Chicago, and, most recently, Seattle.
Winger Matt Boldy starred against the Kraken, bagging a hat trick to lead the way. That took his points total to 57 on the year, scoring 28 times and tallying 29 assists. In fact, it was his second hatty in the last five games. Jake Middleton and Ryan Hartman also found the back of the net, while netminder Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves in between the posts.
Wednesday marks the beginning of a two-game road trip for Minnesota, who are also set to visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday before also hosting them next Monday. Needless to say, there are some tough matchups ahead for the Wild. It will be a good test.
The Avs are once again dealing with injury problems as Arrturi Lehknonen is on the IR, while Gabriel Landeskog was still yet to play in 2022-23. That being said, Colorado is managing to stay afloat. They’ve only lost once in their previous ten outings. Sure, some of those wins were against bottom-feeders like Chicago, Arizona, and Detroit, but you simply can’t ignore when a team can string together this many wins.
The Avalanche dominated Anaheim earlier in the week, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring once and tallying an assist. Star defenceman Cale Makar also set up a pair of goals. MacKinnon is playing out of his mind in March, registering 24 points. That’s second in the NHL for the month.
These next two games for Colorado are extremely important, with the playoffs quickly approaching. After hosting Minnesota, the Stars also come town, who are right on their heels in the Central Division. Time for the Avs to buckle down and, hopefully, keep the hot streak going.
I expect this to be a very entertaining affair. Both teams have a lot to play for, but It’s hard to ignore how good Colorado is right now. Take the Avs moneyline and in the process, they will move into first in the Central.
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