Open Thread: Round 2 Game 4, Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild (6:00 p.m.)

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SAINT PAUL, MN - MAY 9: Danila Yurov #22 of the Minnesota Wild and Logan O'Connor #25 of the Colorado Avalanche battle for the puck in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Grand Casino Arena on May 9, 2026 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images

After suffering their first loss of these playoffs against the Minnesota Wild by a final score of 5-1, the Colorado Avalanche look to bounce back tonight in Minnesota for Game 4 and hopefully take a 3-1 series lead.

Colorado Avalanche​


The Avs arguably played their worst game of these playoffs in Game 3, and the final score reflected that. Colorado was really unable to get anything going offensively in that game, and Minnesota was able to control a vast majority of the play. To be fair, Game 3 was a bit of a ‘must-win’ for the Wild after going down 2-0 in the series, so it was expected that they were going to push back and fight to get back into the series. Now, the Avs have the opportunity to respond tonight and put the Wild on the brink of elimination.

One big change for the Avalanche as Mackenzie Blackwood took morning skate in the “starter’s net”. Josh Manson and Joel Kiviranta also participated in morning skate. Jared Bednar wouldn’t confirm any changes, though.

Projected Lineup​


Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Nazem Kadri – Nic Roy
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Josh Manson – Brent Burns

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Minnesota Wild​


After falling behind 2-0 in the series, it was expected that Minnesota was going to push back and get back into this series. The Wild are too talented to get swept, and they showed exactly what they could do in Game 3. As previously mentioned, they were able to control a large portion of the play in that game and get their offense going. They’ll be looking to even up the series tonight in Game 4 and take the series back to Colorado tied 2-2.

No lineup changes are expected for the Wild as Joel Eriksson Ek is not ready to play and no other options are in question.

Projected Lineup​


Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Danila Yurov – Matt Boldy
Yakov Trenin – Michael McCarron – Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno – Nico Sturm – Nick Foligno

Quinn Hughes – Brock Faber
Daemon Hunt – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – Zach Bogosian

Jesper Wallstedt
Filip Gustavsson

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