Round 2 Game 4 Preview: Colorado aims to respond after loss

After suffering their first loss of these playoffs against the Minnesota Wild by a final score of 5-1, the Colorado Avalanche look to bounce back tonight in Minnesota for Game 4 and hopefully take a 3-1 series lead.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avs arguably played their worst game of these playoffs in Game 3, and the final score reflected that. Colorado was really unable to get anything going offensively in that game, and Minnesota was able to control a vast majority of the play. To be fair, Game 3 was a bit of a ‘must-win’ for the Wild after going down 2-0 in the series, so it was expected that they were going to push back and fight to get back into the series. Now, the Avs have the opportunity to respond tonight and put the Wild on the brink of elimination.

One big change for the Avalanche as Mackenzie Blackwood took morning skate in the “starter’s net”. Josh Manson and Joel Kiviranta also participated in morning skate. Jared Bednar wouldn’t confirm any changes, though.

Projected Lineup

Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen – Brock Nelson – Valeri NichushkinRoss Colton – Nazem Kadri – Nic Roy
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Josh Manson – Brent Burns

Mackenzie BlackwoodScott Wedgewood

Minnesota Wild

After falling behind 2-0 in the series, it was expected that Minnesota was going to push back and get back into this series. The Wild are too talented to get swept, and they showed exactly what they could do in Game 3. As previously mentioned, they were able to control a large portion of the play in that game and get their offense going. They’ll be looking to even up the series tonight in Game 4 and take the series back to Colorado tied 2-2.

No lineup changes are expected for the Wild as Joel Eriksson Ek is not ready to play and no other options are in question.

Projected Lineup

Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Danila Yurov – Matt BoldyYakov Trenin – Michael McCarron – Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno – Nico Sturm – Nick Foligno

Quinn Hughes – Brock Faber
Daemon Hunt – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – Zach Bogosian

Jesper WallstedtFilip Gustavsson