Minnesota stands pat with Jesper Wallstedt in net while Colorado turns to MacKenzie Blackwood for a pivotal Game 4 clash as the Wild look to even the series.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild (1-2 | 5-4) is back in action tonight to face the Colorado Avalanche (2-1 | 6-1) for Game 4 of the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Wild will roll out the same lineup for Game 4. That means Joel Eriksson Ek remains out for Minnesota and Jesper Wallstedt will start again.
For the Avalanche, they will make a change. MacKenzie Blackwood will make his first start of the playoffs tonight.
In ten career starts vs. Minnesota, Blackwood is 3-5-2 with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
The Avalanche will make more changes than that, including three new guys in the lineup.
Here are tonight's lines.
Wild Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Ryan Hartman - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Danila Yurov - Matt Boldy
Yakov Trenin - Michael McCarron - Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno - Nico Sturm - Nick Foligno
Defense:
Quinn Hughes - Brock Faber
Daemon Hunt - Jared Spurgeon
Jake Middleton - Zach Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Jesper Wallstedt
Scratched: Jeff Petry, Bobby Brink, Matt Kiersted, Cal Petersen, Robby Fabbri, Hunter Haight.
Injured: Jonas Brodin (lower-body), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower-body).
Avalanche Lines
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Martin Necas
Ross Colton - Brock Nelson - Nicolas Roy
Logan O’Connor - Nazem Kadri - Valeri Nichushkin
Joel Kiviranta - Jack Drury - Parker Kelly
Defense:
Devon Toews - Cale Makar
Brett Kulak - Brent Burns
Jack Ahcan - Josh Manson
Starting Goaltender: MacKenzie Blackwood
Scratched: Isak Posch, Nick Blankenburg, Zakhar Bardakov.
Injured: Artturi Lehkonen (upper-body), Sam Malinski (lower-body).
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