{"id":463348,"date":"2025-02-28T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T14:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=463348"},"modified":"2025-02-28T06:42:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T11:42:15","slug":"nhl-predictions-feb-28-minnesota-wild-vs-colorado-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/28\/nhl-predictions-feb-28-minnesota-wild-vs-colorado-avalanche\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Feb. 28 Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day,\u00a0<em>Last Word on Hockey<\/em>\u00a0takes a look at the games that are scheduled and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. In today\u2019s round of NHL Predictions, we are looking at the game between the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/26\/edmonton-oilers-reacquire-defenceman-from-the-minnesota-wild\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Wild<\/a> vs<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/10\/nhl-rumours-interest-in-colorado-avalanche-forward\/\" target=\"_self\"> Colorado Avalanche.<\/a>\u00a0Be sure to check out more NHL Predictions as the 2024-25 season continues.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Predictions<\/h2>\n<h3>Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche<\/h3>\n<h4>Head-to-Head: Wild 1-1 Avalanche<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Time:<\/strong> 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV:<\/strong> SN 360; Altitude; Fan Duel Sports North; Fan Duel Sports Wisconsin; ESPN+<\/p>\n<p>We feature a big matchup in our NHL predictions.<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/game\/_\/gameId\/401688546\/wild-avalanche\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> It&#8217;s a Central Division battle<\/a> between the Wild and the Avalanche on this Friday night. Both teams are 6-4 in their last 10 games. However, Minnesota is coming two straight defeats and that includes a 6-1 rout by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/22\/olli-maatta-4-nations-face-off\/\" target=\"_self\">Utah Hockey Club<\/a>. Meanwhile, Colorado got the win over the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/05\/devils-setting-sights-on-forward\/\" target=\"_self\">New Jersey Devils<\/a> last time out.<\/p>\n<p>The two clubs play each other one more time in the season series after this game. Minnesota is two points ahead of Colorado for third place ahead of this game. Let&#8217;s dive and check out all the storylines entering this game in this round of NHL predictions.<\/p>\n<h4>The Minnesota Story<\/h4>\n<p>It was a night to forget for Minnesota after getting routed by Utah on Thursday night. The Wild are in position to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, injuries have rocked the lineup with both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kapriki01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kirill Kaprizov<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/e\/eriksjo02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Eriksson Ek<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/25\/minnesota-wild-lose-another-vital-forward-to-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">out of the lineup.<\/a> Kaprizov still leads in goals and points, but is out<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/23\/updated-timeline-on-kirill-kaprizov-injury\/\" target=\"_self\"> for the foreseeable future.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gustafi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filip Gustavsson<\/a> is the expected starter with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/f\/fleurma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marc-Andre Fleury<\/a> having played this night before in Salt Lake City. However, always check social media before locking in a daily fantasy starter. Matthew Boldy leads the team in assists with 31 so far this season.<\/p>\n<h4>The Colorado Story<\/h4>\n<p>It&#8217;s been an up-and-down season at time for the Avalanche. Colorado got off to that horrendous start, but has managed to stabilize heading into the stretch drive. This team still would love a little bit more consistency. This includes an 8-10-1 record against divisional opponents.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/blackma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a> is the projected starter ahead of this Central Division matchup for Colorado. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/makarca01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cale Makar<\/a> continues to put up quality numbers with 22 goals with 44 assists for the Avalanche.<\/p>\n<h3>Prediction<\/h3>\n<p>Minnesota having to turn around and play a talented Colorado group after playing the night before is already hard enough. However, having come back the next night after getting downed by Utah is even harder.<\/p>\n<p>The Avs should walk away with this one and turn up the heat on the Wild in the chase for the automatic playoff spot in the division.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Avalanche win 4-2.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Prop Bets of the Night<\/h3>\n<p>We close out NHL predictions with some prop bets of the night. The over\/under for this game is 5.5 and we like the over in this instance. For Minnesota, go with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/rossima01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marco Rossi<\/a> to get the over 0.5 points in this one. On the Colorado end of things, take <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/lehkoar01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artturi Lehkonen<\/a> to met a goal.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><b>Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling\u00a0problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day,\u00a0Last Word on Hockey\u00a0takes a look at the games that are scheduled and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. In today\u2019s round of NHL Predictions, we are looking at the game between the\u00a0Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche.\u00a0Be sure to check out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":463366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4547,30,4548,4524],"tags":[6085,6012],"class_list":["post-463348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avalanche","category-hockey","category-wild","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-colorado-avalanche-predictions","tag-minnesota-wild-predictions"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463348"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463367,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463348\/revisions\/463367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}