Minnesota @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 21, 2019 ) Colorado 2, Minnesota 3

The Colorado Avalanche are in good shape - health-wise, in the standings and looking forward - as they host the Minnesota Wild on Friday. Colorado entered the Christmas break with a 7-3 victory at Vegas on Monday and sits second in the Central Division and the Western Conference - five points behind St. Louis - and is virtually injury free with rookie defenseman Cale Makar making his return Friday.

"We've had a lot of injuries and we've overcome quite a bit of adversity already in the first half of the season, and we're kind of getting through that injury bug now,'' Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters. "The depth that (general manager) Joe (Sakic) brought in in the offseason … we like the depth that we have, and guys are buying into those roles and they're coming to play every night." Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon plays the role of superstar and his 55 points are third in the league behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Minnesota is 9-4-1 in its last 14 games and received a boost from Devan Dubnyk, who made 22 saves in Monday's 3-0 victory over Calgary in his first home start in more a month after missing time to be with his ailing wife. “I just tried to come back from the break and just go in and feel confident and be myself,” Dubnyk told reporters. “It feels good to go out there and do that and just forget everything else and then see where we are at the end of the year.”

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network

ABOUT THE WILD (18-15-5): Eric Staal paces the club with 31 of his 1,005 career points after recording 12 in the last 10 games. Staal has six goals in his last seven contests and shares the team lead with Zach Parise (14). Dubnyk is 18-14-1 with a 2.40 goals-against average and .924 save percentage versus Colorado.

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (23-11-3): Gabriel Landeskog, who missed 16 games with a lower-body injury, scored Monday in his 600th career contest and has eight goals and 14 points in 21 games. Two-way depth player Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored two of his six goals against Vegas - one of his former teams - and needs one to match his career high set in 2015-16 with Philadelphia. Makar, a Calder Trophy candidate whose eight goals and 28 points lead rookie defensemen, has missed the last eight games with an upper-body injury.

OVERTIME

1. Minnesota leads the league with 28 points since Nov. 14.

2. Colorado is 10-for-10 on the penalty kill over its last four games and 17-for-19 in its past seven.

3. The clubs have split the past six meetings dating to the start of 2018-19, including the first two of four this season, with Makar scoring twice in Minnesota's 3-2 victory Nov. 21 in the last encounter.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 3, Wild 2