Wild lose to Avalanche after five day break

The Minnesota Wild lost on the road Sunday night to the Colorado Avalanche, the division leading Colorado Avalanche. The Wild lost the Pepsi Center match-up 4-2. The Av’s Paul Stastny scored twice and got an assist to put him at the 100 point mark in his career.  Niklas Backstrom was in the net for the Wild despite leaving practice early a few times last week complaining of soreness around the groin and legs. Eric Belanger knocked in a goal for the Wild and so did Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

The Wild had five days off and one would think that would have been enough time to rest Marian Gaborik, but he was not on the ice vs. the Avs. It’s no secret that the Minnesota Wild is not the same without power forward Gaborik and his presence was missed in the Colorado game. Coach Lemaire doesn’t like to admit it, but Gabby has some sort of Wild Mojo that helps the team play better and ultimately win.

"We have to play better than we did tonight if we want to win - with our injured players or without them," Lemaire said. "We have to play well with the players that we had."

The Wild called up forward Aaron Voros from the Houston Aeros before the game. Voros made his NHL debut Sunday and played eight and half minutes. I don’t expect to see his name on any highlight reels this year – it’s not that he’s bad, he’s just not that good.