Minnesota Wild at Avalanche Game 1: The Real Test Begins, Lines, Notes & How To Watch

The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche open their second-round series against the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:10 pm MT and will be broadcast nationally on TNT.

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Key Stories to Watch

• The Avalanche are set to play their first game in a week, and it’ll be against the No. 3 Minnesota Wild, who defeated the higher seeded No. 2 Dallas Stars in six games in the opening round. The Avs enter the matchup with four straight wins, while Minnesota won three consecutive games after trailing 2-1 to the Stars earlier in their series.
• Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes are the two most recent Norris Trophy winners, and they’ll go head-to-head in what’s expected to be a highly skilled matchup between the two puck-moving defensemen. Hughes has never scored against the Avalanche in his career and has lost two of three games against Colorado since being moved to the Wild.
• Similar to the opening round against Los Angeles Kings goalie Anton Forsberg, the Avalanche are likely facing another goalie who started the season as the backup. Like , Colorado’s backup coming into 2025-26, has handled goaltending duties for Minnesota with serving as the backup. Wallstedt has a .924 save percentage in six playoff starts and Wedgewood is at .950.