Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said the work needs to come before the skill for his players. Cale Makar — the National Hockey League Player Association's player of the week [https://x.com/NHLPA/status/1728085011549635062?s=20] — could break his own franchise record for most points in a month by a defenseman (21) with a multi-point game against the Minnesota Wild. With three more games this month, Makar could possibly match or surpass Peter Stastny's franchise record (28 points in February 1981) for most points in a month among all skaters. Makar is tied with John-Michael Liles at second place for the franchise's most points by a defenseman. Tyson Barrie owns the top spot but it's only 32 points from Makar's current total. Considering the 25-year-old blueliner has 29 points in just 15 games played so far this season, there's not much doubt he'll own that record before the season is over. Quite possibly before the year is over. The Avalanche face off against the Wild for the first of four Central Division rival matchups this season. Minnesota is currently 10 points behind Colorado in the division with a 5-8-4 record. The Avs have won four of their last five games and won both games at Xcel Energy Center last season. "Just breaking the game down into a couple areas that they can focus on in competitive areas especially. Then we feel like our skill can kind of take over a little. You want to make sure you're putting the work before the skill," head coach Jared Bednar said after the 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/5-goal-scorers-contributed-in-avalanche-win-over-canucks]. This will be Minnesota's first game back in the states since losing two in extra time in the Global Series to the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. Projected lineup Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen Jonathan Drouin — Ryan Johansen — Tomas Tatar Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Riley Tufte Andrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta Devon Toews — Cale Makar Bowen Byram — Josh Manson Jack Johnson — Caleb Jones Alexandar Georgiev Ivan Prosvetov Logan O'Connor and Artturi Lehkonen are both out with injuries while Kurtis MacDermid and Samuel Girard are scratched. Girard is away from the team for personal reasons [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/featured/avalanche-defenseman-sam-girard-out-for-personal-reasons]. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. MT. This is the first of back-to-back games for the Avalanche as they face off against the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena on Saturday night.
