The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
The Wild concludes a five-game road trip on Wednesday night when it faces the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver.
For Minnesota, it marks a return to the Mile High City for the first time in three weeks, when a number of players tested positive for COVID-19, and the team's season was temporarily paused earlier this month.
The stoppage came on the heels of a 2-1 loss to the Avs on Feb. 2.
The Wild resumed its schedule in Los Angeles two weeks later with a 4-0 loss, but Minnesota has won each of its past three games on the road trip, stringing together a trio of victories for the first time this season.
Minnesota has been especially impressive in its past two outings, outscoring Anaheim and San Jose by a combined 11-3 margin.
In a 6-2 win in San Jose last time out, Minnesota rallied from an early 1-0 deficit by scoring the next four goals. After Logan Couture made it 4-2 early in the third period, the Wild responded yet again, adding two more before the end of regulation.
Goaltender Kappo Kahkonen made 31 saves to improve to 3-1 on the trip filling in for Cam Talbot, who continues to battle back from a bout with COVID-19 earlier this month.
Talbot served as Kahkonen's backup in San Jose and could be primed to make his first start since the one-goal loss in Denver early this month.
If Kahkonen earns the start, it's almost a certainty that Talbot would play this weekend, when Minnesota returns home for a brief two-game homestand against the Los Angeles Kings, games that will be played on back-to-back nights on Friday and Saturday.
Offensively, the Wild has been powered of late by the line of Kirill Kaprizov, Victor Rask and Mats Zuccarello, a trio that combined for five points in the win in Anaheim on Saturday night, before totaling nine points versus the Sharks.
Zuccarello tied a career high with four points in the game, scoring one goal and dishing out three assists.
Minnesota seems likely to face a cranky Avalanche team coming off a 3-0 loss on home ice to West Division-leading Vegas on Monday night. The game marked the second shutout of the Avs by the Golden Knights in a span of eight days.
Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avs with 14 assists and 18 points, while linemate Mikko Rantanen has a team-best seven goals.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer has been outstanding this season, posting a 9-4-0 record in 13 starts, with a 1.78 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. He made 27 saves in the 2-1 win against the Wild earlier this month.
Grubauer hasn't allowed more than three goals in any of his past 12 starts, surrendering two goals or fewer in 10 of those contests.
Colorado begins the game one point ahead of Minnesota in the West Division standings. Both teams have played just 15 games, tied for fewest among the eight clubs in the West.
