Avalanche and Wild could reignite rivalry in playoffs

The Minnesota Wild were missing their best player and top three defensemen, but if there's one team who will feel zero sympathy for them, it's the Colorado Avalanche.

Down a few players of their own, the Avalanche blew out the Wild by a score of 6-1 to win the first meeting of the year between the two teams. Here are three takeaways after Colorado's big win.

Potential playoff preview

There's still half a season left to be played, but there's a very real chance the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild could meet in the first round of the postseason. If it does happen, it might be an opportunity for the two franchises to reignite a rivalry that has gone dormant in recent years.

It's been over a decade since the two franchises have faced each other in the postseason. Minnesota took that series in seven games and the two teams seemed to generally dislike each other. Although they've stayed in the same division, rivalries disappear when teams don't play each other in the playoffs.

As things currently stand, the teams the Avalanche have the greatest chance of playing in the postseason are Minnesota, Winnipeg, Dallas, and Vegas. The Wild are the only one of those teams they haven't seen in the playoffs recently. 

Of course, if the two teams do match up this April, it would help if they were both at full strength. Both sides were missing some pretty important pieces on Thursday night. 

MacKinnon owns Minnesota

Not sure Nathan MacKinnon really cares who he goes up against come playoff time, but given his success against Minnesota historically, he might not mind seeing the Wild.

With his second period assist on Thursday, MacKinnon became the fourth player in NHL history to record 60+ points against the Wild franchise, joining former line mate Jarome Iginla and both Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Those 60 points came in just 48 games. 

One player sacrificed for another

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Jonathan Drouin returned to the lineup after taking Wednesday's game off, but it can't just be good news with this Avalanche team. Sam Girard missed his first game of the season with what the team is calling an upper-body injury.

Girard is currently listed as day-to-day, but day-to-day has turned into week-to-week for some Avalanche players this year. For Colorado's sake, hopefully that isn't the case this time. Drouin finished the night with two assists, showing just how valuable he is when in the lineup.

 
Avalanche 6, Wild 1

What happened: Colorado held the Kaprizov-less Wild to just 12 shots through two periods and piled on the offense in the third period to win the first matchup of the year between the two teams.

What went right: A few depth forwards found the back of the net to help the Avalanche pull out the win. Logan O'Connor was flying all night and got things started with his first goal in 13 games. Parker Kelly scored his first in eight games in the third period on a goal that essentially killed the hopes of the Wild.

It was probably safe to assume it would be a good night for the Avalanche when Ross Colton was given a gift in the first period thanks to Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm. Minnesota's defender fumbled the puck right into the slot from behind his own net, allowing Colton to bury the puck on an unsuspecting Filip Gustavsson, who thought his teammate still had it. Colton may never score an easier goal. It ended up being the game winner.

What went wrong: Colorado playing this well on the second half of a back-to-back makes the loss to a bad Chicago team the night before all the more frustrating. Instead of four points and making up ground in the standings, they have to live with two.

Avalanche goal scorers: O'Connor (5), Colton (13), Rantanen (25), Kelly (4), Lehkonen (15), MacKinnon (15)

Between the pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood continues to be the stabilizer and shows what a difference good goaltending makes. Just prior to Rantanen's goal, which made it 3-1, Blackwood made a huge save on a Wild player left all alone in the slot. Those are saves the Avalanche weren't getting two months ago. He finished the night with 24 saves on 25 shots.

What's next: Colorado will close out their road trip on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets at 5 p.m.
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