The Avs Mix It Up in Saturday Night Loss to Minnesota

Six points separated the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference playoff picture going into last night's game. The 7th-place Wild had a hold of a playoff spot by one point, while the Avs sat back in 11th. With the NHL calendar about to flip into the regular season's final month, both teams knew what was riding on this game. The Avalanche found themselves in a 1-0 hole early. They briefly tied the game in the second period before Minnesota regained a lead that was never given up again.

With 3 seconds left in the game, Cody McLeod took a run at Mikael Granlund off a faceoff, which earned McLeod a slash from Charlie Coyle. McLeod dropped his gloves and took on Coyle in a good-old fashioned bit of late-game message-sending.

McLeod easily took down Coyle, then had some words for the Wild bench on his way off the ice. The Wild have played without an enforcer, or really any kind of measurable toughness, for the entire season. That pretty much lays out the red carpet for McLeod to do what he wants. These two teams play again next Sunday; keep an eye on that matchup.