Discipline Key in Avs' Historic Series vs. Wild

The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild know each other very well. Ever since the Wild entered the NHL as an expansion franchise in 2000, the clubs have shared the same division, including being the only two U.S.-based teams in the old Northwest Division from 2000-2013.
So it shouldn't have come as any surprise that the Avalanche and Wild both joined the league's new West Division for the 2020-21 campaign, and that the teams will face each other in both franchises' first-ever four-game series during the regular season.
The Avs and Wild open their four-game set this evening at Xcel Energy Center, with the teams meeting again in St. Paul on Sunday before the series shifts for contests in Colorado on Tuesday and Thursday. The squads had never played each other more than two times in a row in the first 20 years of their rivalry.

Playing a division foe four times in six days could see bad blood carryover as the series goes on, and Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar preached to his players to stay smart after whistles prior to the start of this week-long feud.
"It's just about staying disciplined really at the end of the day. The wins are the most important thing, and we stress that with our guys all the time," Bednar said after today's morning skate. "You know, it's not really our style of play to scrum it and get involved in all that extracurricular stuff. We're about playing in-between the whistles and being disciplined."
Since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Avalanche has drawn the most penalties in the league (1,020) and ranks tied for fourth in that category through the first three weeks of this season (40). The extra time on the man advantage has allowed Colorado to score a power-play goal in seven of its eight games and rank seventh in the league with a 31.6-percent success rate with an extra skater
After making several changes to its lineup in the offseason, the 2020-21 Wild appear to have followed the Avs' success in that department. Minnesota ranks third in the NHL with 41 penalties drawn this season but hasn't had the same success on the power play as Colorado has had (5.9 percent).
"What we did touch on this morning is that we've always been a good team at drawing penalties and using our legs and putting teams in tough situations defensively where they have to reach in and take penalties on us, and that's hard to play against," Bednar said. "The thing is with Minnesota is that they're kind of doing the same thing right now, putting teams under duress in the offensive zone and hanging onto pucks and making it difficult, so other teams are taking penalties on them. So special teams and discipline is going to be a big part of this four-game series."
No matter the opponent, playing teams in consecutive games--let alone four times in a row--will create a situation where things could boil over from one game to the next as clubs try to "send a message" and gain any little advantage they can.
For this first game, the Avalanche aims to continue to build on its success that it had during its two-game sweep of the San Jose Sharks, which saw it hold a 10-3 advantage in total goals scored and an 80-51 edge in shots over the two contests.
"We're going to have to focus for tonight, we're going to have to make sure that we play our game, use our speed and put some pucks deep as well," said defenseman Samuel Girard. "I guess we just have to play our game focus on us."
While this series marks the first time the Avs have played an opponent four times in a row during the regular season, the back-to-back in Minnesota is also a first in the franchises' histories. The Avalanche and Wild had played each other in the same arena in consecutive nights once during a playoff series (Games 3-4 in Denver during the Western Conference Quarterfinals on April 14-15, 2008), but they've never done so in the same building during the regular season--until this weekend.

LINEUP NOTES

Devon Toews will miss his first game of the season after blocking a shot off his foot in Thursday's victory versus the San Jose Sharks. Bednar said the defenseman didn't make the trip to Minnesota and he should know more about the severity of the injury in the coming days.
Conor Timmins will reenter the lineup with Toews out and will begin the contest on a defensive pairing with Ryan Graves.
Forward Logan O'Connor will make his season debut for the Avs, replacing Pierre-Edouard Bellemare on the fourth line with Tyson Jost and Kiefer Sherwood. Bellemare will be out for the near future after suffering a lower-body injury in Thursday's contest.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer will start the first half of the back-to-back set.
View: Avalanche vs. Wild Projected Lineup

GAME NOTES

The Avalanche has killed off 17 straight penalties, including all 15 at home this season.
Nazem Kadri had three points on Thursday in the win versus the Sharks and became the first Avalanche player to score twice, have 10-plus shots and win 10 or more faceoffs in a single game (since NHL has tracked faceoffs). Kadri needs just one point for 400 in his career.
Mikko Rantanen has scored a goal in all four Colorado road games this year. No player in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history has ever scored in each of the team's first five road contests of a season.
The Avalanche is playing its second of six back-to-back contests of the season. It split its first set last week in Southern California, falling 4-2 to the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 21 before winning 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 22 against the Anaheim Ducks.
Colorado is beginning its eight-game season series against the Wild. The clubs last played eight games versus one another in a campaign in 2007-08, the last of three straight seasons they did so.

ONE TIMERS

Head coach Jared Bednar on his lineup:
"We had a day of rest yesterday, we had an optional skate, so all of our guys that sort of ate up a lot of minutes the other night and the last handful of games got a little bit of rest. A good night of rest here yesterday, we got in at a good time so the lineup is pretty much staying the same except for those couple guys coming in for injuries."
Bednar on his defensive pairings:
"Obviously you lose a guy like Toews, it's going to shake things up on the backend. We know the minutes that guys like Cale and Girard normally play, Bo Byram has played lots of minutes, everyone is going to get elevated, and they're going to move around a little bit now."
Samuel Girard on the defense stepping up in Devon Toews' absence:
"I remember when he was playing for New York, he's a very good D. He's good offensively and defensively, he's got a good stick so he is huge for us. But we're going to have a lot of injuries like that during the season, we're going have to step up. The guys that get in the lineup, they're going to have to step up and that's part of the game. For sure it's sad that he's out, but we're going to have to step up."
Logan O'Connor on being on a line with Tyson Jost and Kiefer Sherwood:
"We've chatted a little bit. I think our whole line can be based on speed. All of us feel like we're strong skaters and just a bunch of young guys that want to go out and prove ourselves. I think we can definitely make an impact on the game if we use our speed and make smart decisions getting the puck behind them. I think we can create some energy that other lines can feed off of and play smart defensively that will hopefully translate offensively."