Tim Williams - AccuScore Analyst
Read Blog

Series Analysis: Colorado brought back a few key pieces of their 2001 Stanley Cup championship team, trading for Adam Foote at the deadline, and bringing Peter Forsberg back from retirement. However, the Avalanche have seen a plague of injuries to guys like Foote and Ryan Smyth, and the endurance of Forsberg in the playoffs is questionable. On top of that, Minnesota’s goalie, Nicklas Backstrom, has dominated the Avalanche this season, posting a 1.98 GAA and a .930 save percentage. Backstrom will be the difference maker in this series, as Colorado is 2-1 without Backstrom in the game, but 1-4 against Backstrom.

Key for Minnesota: Pierre-Marc Bouchard leads Minnesota in assists this season, but has struggled against the Avalanche, recording just three assists in eight games this season. Marian Gaborik has also struggled, recording just four points in six games against Colorado, despite recording over a point per game this season. Minnesota will need their two top point scorers to end their slumps against Jose Theodore in this series.

Key for Colorado: Wojtek Wolski has stepped up for Colorado’s offense at the end of the season, scoring six points in the final seven games of the season for the Avalanche. Wolski also has seen success against Minnesota, scoring seven points in seven games against the Wild, including two goals and six points in four games against Nicklas Backstrom.

AccuScore Projections: Minnesota is winning the series in 57.4 percent of simulations. AccuScore projects the Wild to win in seven games.

Click Here for All Western Conference Match-Ups.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Title

Comment

Add Comment