Avalanche take 3-1 lead into game 5 against the Wild

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Minnesota Wild (46-24-12, in the Central Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (55-16-11, in the Central Division)

Denver; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EDT

LINE: Avalanche -205, Wild +169; over/under is 6.5

NHL PLAYOFFS SECOND ROUND: Avalanche lead series 3-1

BOTTOM LINE: The Colorado Avalanche host the Minnesota Wild in the second round of the NHL Playoffs with a 3-1 lead in the series. The teams meet Monday for the ninth time this season. The Avalanche won the last meeting 5-2.

Colorado has a 55-16-11 record overall and a 19-6-5 record in Central Division games. The Avalanche rank first in the league with 298 total goals (averaging 3.6 per game).

Minnesota is 18-14-4 against the Central Division and 46-24-12 overall. The Wild have scored 268 total goals (3.3 per game) to rank 10th in NHL play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Martin Necas has 38 goals and 61 assists for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon has seven goals and six assists over the past 10 games.

Kirill Kaprizov has 45 goals and 44 assists for the Wild. Matthew Boldy has scored seven goals and added four assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Avalanche: 9-1-0, averaging 3.8 goals, six assists, four penalties and 8.2 penalty minutes while giving up two goals per game.

Wild: 5-4-1, averaging 3.8 goals, six assists, 4.8 penalties and 9.6 penalty minutes while giving up three goals per game.

INJURIES: Avalanche: Artturi Lehkonen: day to day (upper-body), Sam Malinski: day to day (upper-body).

Wild: Jonas Brodin: day to day (lower body), Joel Eriksson Ek: day to day (lower-body).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.