Game #51: Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche, Thursday February3, 2011 at 8:00pm CST, Pepsi Center [GAME PREVIEW]

While the Wild have come back from the All-Star break with some success, the same cannot be said about the Colorado Avalanche.  However, the Avalanche haven’t experienced failure either.  In fact, they have yet to play a game at all.  They were on the schedule to play the Blues in St. Louis on Tuesday, however Mother Nature had other plans.  Even though the Avalanche and the night’s officials had made it to St. Louis, league officials and St. Louis front office personnel made the executive decision to postpone the game due to the severe winter weather.  The game has since been rescheduled for February 22.

Now if this had happened to the Wild, I would have had grave reservations.  We all know the Wild usually perform poorly after an extended break.  However, the Avalanche have the fire power that could easily overcome Minnesota.  The only saving grace is that while Colorado is great at scoring, they are horrible at preventing the other team from scoring on them.  One can only hope that the Wild can find their scoring touch against the team in possession of the league’s worst goals against per game stat.  However, I said the exact same thing for our last game against the Avalanche, and found myself greatly disappointed.

As I mentioned in previous game preview, we all know that rumor time is upon us, with the trade deadline later this month.  Based on past history, I know to not get excited about this time in the NHL season.  The Wild have rarely been big participants in the trade frenzy, and this year appears to be no different.  Reading today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher has stated that at this time he doesn’t plan on getting involved in the insanity.  In fact, Fletcher has said that he wants to make the playoffs with the team he has now.  If the team continues to play as they have as of late, I can’t blame him for taking that stance.  Especially considering that both Marek Zidlicky and Guillaume Latendresse are expected to make their returns before the end of regular season.  The only way that the Wild will find themselves in the trade market is if the Wild revert to their abysmal play of the start of the season.

I would have to say that tonight’s game, along with next week’s home game against Colorado as well as the home and home series against the Blues will make or break the Wild’s chances for the playoffs.  Success will most likely fuel the team’s desire for further success.  Failure will put them behind an 8-ball that they can’t get around.  As always, we simply have to wait to see which Wild team we get from here on out.

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