Storylines for the Game
Paul Stastny and Nathan MacKinnon have been arguably the most eclectic players in the entire league since the playoffs started. This pairing already has 14(!) points so far this series and with their skill level the sky is the limit. The Wild are going to have to severely clamp down on them - in ways similar to what they did in Game Three - if they want to continue to find success.
Matt Cooke did what we all hoped he would never do in this uniform - something that many, if not all, of us believed that was left far behind in his past. While it is easy to see that he has reformed his overall play - as evidenced by the drop in PIM and suspensions in recent years - he still made a dump play the other night in St Paul. The man has been suspended for seven games and not only does this shift our even strength lineup, but it also harms the overall effectiveness of the penalty kill unit. It is easy to see how the loss of Cooke will harm this team. It remains to be seen how exactly this will affect this team but it it is highly doubtful it is overall for the better.
The Colorado Avalanche, on that same flip of the coin, lost arguably the most mobile and offensively gifted defender on their team. It has already been announced he is going to be out for the rest of the playoffs in a 4-6 week rehabilitation stint following MCL surgery, and it is up in the air to see how the rest of the Avalanche team will respond.
The Wild, a traditionally low scoring team, look to be continuing their ways. Their leading scorers, Parise and Koivu, are barely ahead of a trio of players sitting at three points. The Wild need several players to step it up in big ways. Jason Pominville and Matt Moulson have been doing their best impression of Sue Storm from the Fantastic Four and if the Wild have any hopes of tying this series at two games a piece, secondary scorers are going to have to start chipping in points.
Lineups
Minnesota Wild
Playoff Record:
1-2
7GF | 9GA
1-0 at Home
First Wildcard team
Leading Scorers
Zach Parise
3GP | 0g | 4a | 4p | -1 | 4PIM
Mikko Koivu
3GP | 0G | 3A | 3P | -1 | 2PIM
Ryan Suter
3GP | 1G | 1A | 2p | -1 | 2PIM
Darcy Kuemper will start
1GS | 1-0-0 | 0.00GAA | 1.000SV% | 1 SO
Parise - Granlund - Pominville
Moulson - Koivu - Coyle
Nino - Haula - Fontaine
Heatley - Brodziak - McCormick
*Pairings subject to change*
Suter - Brodin
Scandella - Spurgeon
Prosser - Stoner
Kuemper
Bryzgalov
Colorado Avalanche
2-1
9GF | 7GA
0-1 on the Road
1st in Central Conference
Leading Scorers
Paul Stastny
3GP | 3G | 4A | 7P | +2 | 0PIM
Nathan MacKinnon
3GP | 1G | 6A | 7P | +5 | 2PIM
Gabriel Landeskog
3GP | 3G | 0A | 3P | +2 | 0PIM
Semyon Varlamov will start
3GS | 2-1 | 2.21GAA | .937SV%
Landeskog - Stastny - MacKinnon
McGinn - O'Reilly - Parenteau
McLeod - Cliche - Talbot
Malone - Hishon - Bordeleau
Hejda - Johnson
Holden - Benoit
Wilson - Guenin
Varlamov
Giguere
