The Colorado Avalanche jumped back into the NHL season on Wednesday night, while the Minnesota Wild had an extra day to recover from the three-week Olympic break.
Colorado recorded a 4-2 victory against the Utah Mammoth in its first game since Feb. 4. The Avalanche, who have won two straight contests, will hit the ice again Thursday night when they face Minnesota in Denver.
With less than two months left in the regular season, Thursday’s game will carry extra significance for both teams. The Avalanche lead the NHL in points with 85, seven more than the Wild.
Despite leading the league, Colorado was 4-5-2 in its 11 games before the Olympics and has not won more than two games in a row since a 10-game winning streak that extended to Jan. 3.
Colorado had eight players participate in the Milan Cortina Olympics and four play in the gold-medal game on Sunday in Italy. Nathan MacKinnon, who is third in the NHL in points with 93 and is first in goals with 40, was scratched Wednesday night.
Cale Makar, Devon Toews and Brock Nelson, who won the gold with Team USA, played against the Mammoth. Captain Gabriel Landeskog also took the ice on Wednesday and had an assist after suiting up for Sweden in the Olympics.
Wednesday night also served as the Avalanche debut for Brett Kulak, who was acquired from Pittsburgh on Tuesday for fellow defenseman Samuel Girard.
Kulak logged 19:03 of ice time on 23 shifts.
“To be honest, mentally, I was pretty surprised we got moved again, just the way the (Penguins) were rolling,” Kulak said before Wednesday’s game. “I thought at least I would probably finish out the year there is where my mind was at.”
Minnesota enters Thursday night on a five-game winning streak and is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games. The Wild also had eight players participate in the Olympics, and three — Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber — were teammates with Nelson for the Americans.
Wild coach John Hynes, who served as an assistant coach for Team USA, said everyone who played in Milan is available for Thursday night. The three gold medalists played heavy minutes in the six Olympic games, visited the White House and attended the State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
“We have a set plan, but you’re not going to be able to recover from (the Olympics) even if it’s a day or two off,” Hynes said. “It’s going to be on those three guys to be able to manage themselves the right way away from the game. We’ll talk with them about what they need.
“But the plan is for them to play, and I know they want to play.”
One of the rested Minnesota players is leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov, who has 70 points. He is tied with Boldy for the team lead in goals with 32.
