Avs and Wild mirror each other with star power, elite defensemen and veterans trying to win 1st Cup
DENVER (AP) — In many ways, Colorado and Minnesota mirror each other. Like, carbon-copy close. There’s the similar star power component ( Nathan MacKinnon for the Avalanche, Kirill Kaprizov for the Wild).
There’s the playmaking defensemen (Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes ), the dependable goalies ( Scott Wedgewood , Jesper Wallstedt) and the veterans searching for their first Stanley Cup (Brent Burns, Nick Foligno ). It's why this second-round series that starts Sunday night in Denver seems so compelling. Two of the last three times the Wild and Avalanche have met in the playoffs it’s gone seven games.
That includes their last matchup, a 2014 first-round series, in which a Minnesota team with Jared Spurgeon — before his days as Wild captain — beat a Colorado squad that featured MacKinnon making his NHL playoff debut. “It’s going to be another big battle,” said Marcus Foligno, whose team eliminated Dallas, the nemesis of the Avalanche, in six games to advance. “We’re mentally ready for it.
” These two Central Division rivals are evenly matched. They went 2-1-1 against the other in the regular season, with each winning a game in regulation and losing in a shootout. “As the coach, I can steer them which way I think ...
how hard it’s going to go,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, whose squad swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. “But they've got to go and feel it. They have to go and engage in it.
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