Colorado Avalanche In Control Of Round 2 Series Against Minnesota Wild
The Colorado Avalanche are on an absolute roll this postseason and have now won six straight games in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their opponents this round are the Minnesota Wild, who are playing well but have not quite been able to stand up to Colorado’s pressure.
Avalanche Are Up 2-0 in the Series
Game 1 was a high-scoring affair that ended 9-6, Colorado. The No. 1 playoff seed wasn’t happy with the fact that the Wild were able to keep it close, though, and improved their defense quite a bit for Game 2.
Regular-season NHL points leader Nathan MacKinnon, from Colorado, took three games to score in the first round but has been great in Round 2. He scored a goal and 2 assists in Game 2, and that strengthens the Avalanche even more.
Game 2 ended 5-2 to the Avalanche in a game where the Wild rested rookie Goalkeeper Jesper Wallstedt and gave Filip Gustavsson his first start of the series. Gustavsson saved 18 shots while Avalanche Goalie Scott Wedgewood saved 29. Minnesota outshot Colorado 31-23.
MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Gabriel Landeskog, Nicolas Roy, and Valeri Nichuskin all scored for Colorado in a strong performance. For the Wild, Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson scored.
The Wild were encouraged by the goaltending performance and the high amount of shots on goal in Game 2. “I thought ‘Gus’ [Gustavsson] gave us a chance to win. The difference in the game was the special teams. That’s basically what it comes down to,” Wild Head Coach John Hynes said. “At 5-on-5 we did a lot of good things tonight. Special teams need to be better.”
The Avalanche were happy with the win and thought that they played better than in Game 1. “It’s playoff hockey, it’s what you play for,” Landeskog, a team captain, said. “It’s what you think about through the dog days of the season, it’s what you think about when you’re training in the offseason. I mean, this is what it comes down to. So, I think it’s just about just leaving it all out there, really.”
Updated Player Rankings
MacKinnon, despite not playing his best hockey this playoffs, has managed to get himself into the overall NHL rankings. Kaprizov and the Wild’s Quinn Hughes are tied for 2nd in points (11), with MacKinnon tying for 5th (10). The Wild’s Matt Boldy’s 6 goals have him tied for 1st, while MacKinnon is tied for 7th with 4 goals. Hughes and Kaprizov are tied for 3rd in assists (8) while MacKinnon is tied for 9th (6).
Among goalies, Wedgewood’s GAA of 2.12 puts him 7th, and he’s 5th in SV % with 0.923. Hughes’ 11 points give him a clear lead among defensemen, with the Avalanche’s Devon Toews tied for 3rd with 7 points, and the Wild’s Brock Faber tied for 7th with 6 points.
Colorado’s Cale Makar has 4 goals to tie him for 1st, Hughes and Faber are tied for 3rd (3), and Teowes’ 2 goals have him tied for 6th. Hughes has 9 assists for a clear 2nd ranking, and Teowes is tied for 5th with 5.
The Wild‘s rookies, Danila Yurov and Daemon Hunt, are faring well. Yurov has 2 points to rank him in a tie for fourth among all playoff rookies, while Hunt sits 10th with 1 point. Yurov’s 2 assists have him tied for 1st while Hunt sits 5th with 1 assist.
Game 3 Preview
The Wild will be at home for Game 3, an important advantage that they need to use. They’ve been outplayed through the first two games on every level, scoring on 13.3% of power plays where the Avalanche have scored on 22.2%, killing 59.4% of penalties as compared to 85.7%, and have scored fewer goals than the Avalanche. The series is nearly tied on faceoff wins.
The Wild need to find something special within themselves to beat the Avalanche, who are hard to beat even on a bad day. They are well on their way to a historic run of consecutive playoff wins if they continue to dominate scoring.
