Wild-Avalanche Preview

Regular Season Matchup
	W-L-OT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
MIN	40-33-9	23-11-7	17-22-2	10-10-4	28-28-8
COL	32-45-5	18-21-2	14-24-3	10-12-2	25-34-5
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
214	Goals	190
197	Goals Against	253
66	Power Play Goals	50
36	Power Play Goals Allowed	64
9	Shorthanded Goals	4
6	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	8
889	Penalty Minutes	1062
11	Average Penalty Minutes	13

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Niklas Backstrom	71	37	159	2.33	8	1900	.923
	Josh Harding	19	3	32	2.21	0	421	.929
	Peter Budaj	56	20	154	2.86	2	1377	.899
	Andrew Raycroft	31	12	90	3.14	0	746	.892

Team Stat Leaders
G	Owen Nolan 25	Milan Hejduk 27
A	Mikko Koivu 47	Ryan Smyth 33
PTS	Mikko Koivu 67	Ryan Smyth 59
PIM	Derek Boogaard 87	Ian Laperriere 163
SOG	Mikko Koivu 236	Ryan Smyth 257

The last time Minnesota visited Colorado, Niklas Backstrom was on top of his game. The Wild are hoping a return trip to Denver will help their struggling goaltender get back on track and push them ahead in the playoff race.

Sitting just outside a playoff spot, the Wild enter the final stretch with 10 of their 16 remaining games away from home and begin a three-game trip Thursday night against Colorado.

Minnesota (32-28-6) will need Backstrom to shine, especially on the road, if it wants to reach the postseason for a third consecutive year. The Wild are tied for ninth in the Western Conference and are a point behind seventh-place Edmonton and Nashville.

In addition to the conference-worst Avalanche (29-37-1), the Wild play fellow playoff hopefuls Dallas and St. Louis over the next four days.

They will need a better performance from Backstrom, who is among the league leaders with a 2.36 goals-against average but has allowed 21 goals in his last six starts. Playing at the Pepsi Center could help as he is 5-1-0 with a 2.00 GAA in six regular-season trips there, including a 2-0 win Jan. 4.

Backstrom followed with another shutout at East-leading Boston two nights later, marking the last time Minnesota won back-to-back road games.

Thanks to a resurgent offense, the Wild have a chance for consecutive victories away from home Thursday. Minnesota, which has averaged 2.53 goals this season, has scored 14 in the last four games, going 2-1-1.

Stephane Veilleux and Owen Nolan have each netted three goals with Kim Johnsson adding an assist in four straight games.

After losing three in a row to begin a season-high six-game road trip, the Wild won two of their final three, including 3-2 on Sunday over Anaheim. They returned home and lost 5-4 in overtime Tuesday night to West co-leader San Jose.

While Backstrom stopped just 18 shots, Nolan bailed out his teammate by tying the game in the final 6:04 of regulation with his 400th and 401st career goals.

"If (Backstrom) would've been just a little better," coach Jacques Lemaire said, "we could've won that game."

Backstrom has been mostly better in the regular season against the Avalanche, going 10-2-1 with a 2.18 GAA and winning three of four meetings in 2008-09. He has allowed three goals in those three victories, but had a career-worst performance in a 6-5 home loss Dec. 1.

Backstrom allowed 17 goals in six playoff starts last season against Colorado, but the Northwest Division champion Wild managed to score only 12 times in the first-round upset.

Backstrom will be facing a flagging offense that has kept the Avalanche at the bottom in the West. In losing seven of its last eight, Colorado has been outscored 30-15.

The Avalanche followed a 5-1 win Sunday in Chicago with Tuesday night's 3-0 loss to a struggling Atlanta club.

"Part of it was mental," defenseman Adam Foote said. "Sometimes that's youth and inexperience. We have to be stronger mentally, and we have to work on that. The last game we were able to hold it for 60 minutes."

The Wild have handled Colorado in the regular season, going 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings and 3-0-1 in their last four in Denver.