Our Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson caught up with NHL scout Mike Guentzel for a breakdown of the Wild-Avalanche 2nd round matchup. Game 1 is Sunday night at 8 p.m. Central.
Guentzel works for Utah, and is in charge of scouting the Central Division. In other words, he has seen the Wild and Avalanche a lot this season.
***Click the video box above to watch our conversation with Guentzel***
Guentzel joined us from Tampa where he’ll attend Game 7 Lightning-Montreal Sunday night. His son, Jake, is a forward for Tampa.
The Wild will be without forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin for the first two games of their second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche because of lower-body injuries.
Neither player made the trip to Denver. Wild coach John Hynes said Sunday morning the team is still “making a couple decisions on the lineup” ahead of Game 1 on Sunday night.
The Avalanche will be without defenseman Josh Manson, who missed the series clincher against the Kigns last Sunday with an upper-body injury. Avs coach Jared Bednar said Nick Blankenburg will slide into Manson’s place. The team acquired Blankenburg in a deal with Nashville on March 4.
Brodin didn’t play in Game 6 against Dallas.
Hynes said given the break between Games 2 and 3 — the teams play Tuesday and not again until Saturday — that “both those guys will be reevaluated and see where it goes from there.”
