Here are three things to watch in Game 1:
Two of the best defensemen in the NHL, they’ve already faced off against each other plenty, be it in regular-season games or in the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.
It’s just a joy to watch these two. They even enjoy the talk about the two of them.
“It’s just funny, like pretty cool to have been able to come in (the NHL) with him,” Hughes said. “He’s a year older (27), but pretty much the same age, and there are so many great defensemen in the League right now, honestly. You want to play the best and have that opportunity, this series with Colorado, and I think it’s just a great opportunity to go up against those guys. They’ve got a great team, we’ve got a great team. Just looking forward to the matchup.”
Neither defenseman Jonas Brodin nor forward Joel Eriksson Ek made the trip here and will miss the first two games of the series.
With three days in between Games 2 and 3, the Wild will reevaluate them before Game 3 in Minnesota on Saturday. That may especially be true of Eriksson Ek, their second-line center who sustained a lower-body injury in their 5-2 win in Game 6 of the first round.
“When you have a player like him out that plays so many different situations, one player isn’t going to take the brunt of that responsibility,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “On his power play responsibility, someone else will have to take that. His center (work), 5-on-5, someone else will have to take that, his penalty killing … when you lose a guy that plays that many situations, you have to do it collectively as a group and it’s not all on one guy.”
Nick Blankenburg was inserted by the Avalanche for Game 4 of the first round for defenseman Josh Manson (upper body) after the latter sustained his injury in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings. What Blankenburg will have to adjust to this series is dealing with the extra physicality the Wild are expected to bring.
“It’s going to be a challenge for him tonight, because the thing we’ll miss with (Manson) is the size, the strength, the physicality against their bottom six (forwards), which is obviously huge,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said.
Manson is 6-foot-3 and 218 pounds; Blankenburg is 5-9, 177.
“He’s going to have to just defend smartly — that’s using your legs, using your stick,” Bednar said. “He still has that grit and physical edge to his game, but he has to be careful against bigger bodies tonight.”
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