The Colorado Avalanche have their chance to clinch their spot in the Western Conference Final in Game Five against the Minnesota Wild. Wednesday night’s game at Ball Arena will be the best chance for the Avs to move on and do it in front of their fans.

They had a similar opportunity in 2022 against the St. Louis Blues, but fell in overtime, which led to a drastic Game Six. Can they slay that dragon and clinch on home ice for the first time since 2008?

Colorado Avalanche (7-1)

The Avs took a competitive Game Four by the score of 5-2. Despite what the scoreline and box score say, the game was close and a tight battle.

Colorado had to fight through an in-game injury to the face of Nathan MacKinnon, plus the absences of Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski. Jared Bednar said they are both “dinged up” with upper-body injuries. Neither participated in an optional morning skate, but there may be a chance they can play.


On the flip side, there were new faces playing in the form of Jack Ahcan and Mackenzie Blackwood, along with the returns of Josh Manson and Joel Kiviranta. Jack Ahcan might be sent down with the Colorado Eagles, also starting their own playoff series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken. Who, if any of these guys, will be the ones looking to advance the Avs to the final four?

Projected Lines

Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Ross Colton – Brock Nelson – Nicolas Roy
Valeri Nichushkin – Nazem Kadri – Logan O’Connor
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Brent Burns
Nick Blankenburg – Josh Manson

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Minnesota Wild (5-5)

The Wild will be playing desperately with their season on the line. It’s now or never for Minnesota to keep its season alive, still without Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin.


Offensively, they were shut down on Monday night. They finished with only 21 shots and had only 12 through the first two periods of play. In comparison to Game Three, they looked like a shell of themselves.

Now on the road, they need a similar performance from Game Three. Quinn Hughes played 34 minutes and will surely be utilized that much again in hopes of taking the series back to the Twin Cities.

Projected Lines

Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Danila Yurov – Matt Boldy
Vladimir Tarasenko – Michael McCarron – Yakov Trenin
Marcus Foligno – Nico Sturm – Nick Foligno

Quinn Hughes – Brock Faber
Daemon Hunt – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – Zach Bogosian

Jesper Wallstedt
Filip Gustavsson

Game Details

Time: 6:00 p.m. MT

Watch: TNT, truTV, HBO Max

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950