Tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET, the Minnesota Wild (43-27-12, 98 points regular-season) and Colorado Avalanche (52-22-8, 112 points) skate against each other in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff series live from the Pepsi Center in Colorado. The game can be live streamed for free here. Minnesota fans can hear all of the action on WCCO 830 while Colorado fans can do the same on WKRZ 950.
Colorado started off hot under first-year head coach Patrick Roy, clinching the Central Division and will look to make a deep run while Minnesota earned a wild-card berth and makes its second straight playoff appearance. The Avalanche earned wins in four of the five games they played against the Wild this season.
The Avalanche feel confident riding a hot goaltender in Semyon Varlamov into the playoffs.
"There were a lot of question marks, and I think he responded to all the question marks," Roy told NHL.com. "He worked so hard. He was really determined to turn things around and play with consistency, and that's what he's been doing. He was very determined to make a turn here, and he did. I appreciate what he's been doing since the start of the year. He's been a difference maker."
Varlamov notched an NHL-best 41 wins in the regular-season with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. He'll be opposed by Ilya Bryzgalov, who went 7-1-3 since joining the Wild late in the regular-season with a 2.12 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
The Wild will hope to have Mikael Granlund back in the lineup.
"He's been in and out [with a different injury] a little earlier on and missed about a month, and he came back and his timing was pretty good right away," linemate Jason Pominville said via NHL.com. "I think it'll be no different this time. His timing should be fine."
Pominville led Minnesota in the regular-season with 60 points off of 30 goals and 30 assists while Zach Parise had 29 tallies and 27 helpers for 56 points and Mikko Koivu found the twine 11 times and added 43 assists for 54 points.
Colorado top-scorer Matt Duchene (knee) will be out for Game 1. The team will look to captain Gabriel Landeskog (26-39--65), Ryan O'Reilly (28-36--64) and Nathan MacKinnon (24-39--63) to use their speed and ability to lead them in this series.
The Wild and Avalanche kickoff their Stanley Cup Playoff series when they hit the ice tonight at the Pepsi Center in Colorado.
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