Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild 4/7/21 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Colorado Avalanche look for their sixth consecutive victory when visiting the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday. Colorado is 26-8-4 with 56 points following a 5-4 victory over the Wild on Monday in the first of two consecutive games between the two. Colorado scored four goals during the second period and held off Minnesota late to pick up the victory. Colorado is first in the West division with a four-point lead over second-place Vegas.

Mikko Rantanen is the leading goal scorer for Colorado with 21, while Nathan MacKinnon is the leader in assists with 31 and points with 45. In goal, Philipp Grubauer is 24-7-1 with a goals-against average of 1.83, save percentage of .926 and five shutouts. Colorado is scoring an average of 3.61 goals per game and allowing an average of 2.26 goals per game. Colorado's power-play is scoring 23.6% of the time and the penalty-kill unit has been successful 86.1% of the time.

Minnesota looks to bounce back from its loss to Colorado when hosting the Avalanche on Wednesday. Minnesota is 23-12-2 with 48 points. The Wild are third in the West division four points behind second-place Vegas and eight points behind front-running Colorado. Prior to losing to Colorado, Minnesota had won two straight over Vegas. 

Kirill Kaprizov is leading Minnesota in goals scored with 14 and points with 31, while Jordan Greenway is the leader in assists with 18. In goal, Cam Talbot is 11-6-2 with a goals-against average of 2.41, save percentage of .924 and two shutouts. Minnesota is scoring an average of 2.89 goals per game and allowing an average of 2.51 goals per game. Minnesota's power play is scoring 12.0% of the time and the penalty-kill unit has been successful 85.7% of the time.