It’s not a must-win game. It’s a boy-it-would-sure-be-sweet-to-win game.
The winner of tonight’s Avalanche-Wild game at the Pepsi Center will be in first place in the NHL’s Northwest Division. The winner also will be in a good mental place, heading into the all-star break.
For Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville, tonight’s game is the biggest to this point of the season.
“We haven’t played any of our division rivals in a little while, so it’s (got) huge implications,” Quenneville said. “Somebody’s going to be in first place at the end of the night, so the importance is in place. I think we all know there’s three days off at the end of (the game), so I think we want to leave everything out on the rink.”
The Avs figure to put a little more effort into the game than in Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to Nashville — at least more than they did during a disastrous third period. Beating the soundly coached, disciplined Wild is rarely easy, and the Avs say they will figuratively have to put on their work boots.
“We can’t open things up, just because we’re playing a team that sits back,” defenseman Scott Hannan said. “We need to play the way we did in the first two periods (Tuesday) night. I thought we didn’t do a bad job. I mean, we didn’t score on our opportunities, but we played good defensively, and that’s what we’ve got to do. We can’t just run and gun with teams. You win with playing good defense. That leads to your offense.”
Quenneville will stay with Jose Theodore as his goalie tonight. This will be Theodore’s 10th consecutive start, and despite allowing a couple of soft goals Tuesday, he arguably has been Colorado’s best player recently.
“I thought Jose gave us a chance to get back into the game (against Nashville). It was a 1-0 game going into the third, but we didn’t give him anything,” Quenneville said.
Avs veteran Ian Laperriere said his team has to approach tonight like it is a playoff game — although not necessarily like it’s a Game 7.
“It’s two real big points. We could be on top of our division,” he said. “It would be good to go into the break feeling good about ourselves. But to say it’s a must-win, I don’t know. Every game is big right now. The thing we learned from last year was those points at any time in the season are so important at the end. We just can’t afford to let them go. Our focus has to be on every game being the same in importance.”
MINNESOTA AT COLORADO
7 p.m. tonight, ALT, KKFN 950 AM
Spotlight on Martin Skoula: The former Avalanche defenseman has become just as controversial in Minnesota as he was in Denver. He has been heavily booed at times, mostly because of his penchant for the occasional big turnover and a demeanor that seems too relaxed for hard-core hockey fans.
NOTEBOOK
Avalanche: The team sent winger David Jones back to Lake Erie of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. Enforcer Scott Parker will take Jones’ spot on the fourth line tonight. . . . The Avs are 3-for-41 on the power play in their past 13 games.
Wild: Minnesota is 22-1 when allowing two goals or fewer. That one loss was a 2-1 verdict Tuesday at Calgary. . . . The Wild is 4-for-36 on the power play in the team’s past 11 games. . . . Forward and former Avs prospect Mark Parrish missed Tuesday’s game because of a bruised foot after blocking a shot in a game Monday. His status will be evaluated today.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
