Play ON Colorado Avalanche $ line (-) vs Minnesota @ 10:05 ET The Avalanche are hungry tonight. Not only do they come back home with this series tied at one game apiece, its the added hunger from losing Fridays game on a fluke that fuels the Avs fire here. The Wild scored the overtime winner on Friday off of an Avs defensemans skate. This deflected goal was impossible for Colorado goalie Jose Theodore to defend against and there is every reason to believe that the Avalanche get back on track here. Before the loss on Friday the Avalanche had won seven of their last eight overtime games in playoff action. Not that we expect to again see overtime here but the fact is that the Avs have plenty of veteran players and they certainly have some playoff mettle. The frustrating thing for the Avalanche is that they led Game 1 2-0 going to the third period and they led Game 2 1-0 going to the third period and yet both games went to overtime and the Avs only won one of the games. They know they should be up 2 games to none heading into Mondays home game. Colorado is fully capable of winning big on home ice. They thrive at home while the Wild tend to struggle on the road. Also, the Avalanche do have more playmakers on offense and they can take advantage of a Minnesota defense that is still missing some of its blue line strength due to injuries. Yes, there is a bit of a price to lay here but the Avalanche truly are a bargain in this price range as theyve got home ice and a red-hot goalie in Jose Theodore ready to lead the way tonight. While Niklas Backstrom has also been solid in goal for the Wild, note that the Minnesota netminder has a GAA of 2.83 when on the road compared to the stellar 1.94 GAA that hes produced when on home ice in Minnesota. Once again the Avs take the lead to the third period tonight but, this time, they hang onto it!
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