Eurolanche

Kuemper to start against Avalanche

Season series: The Minnesota Wild are 2-0-0 against the Colorado Avalanche, including a 3-0 win at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday. Wild forward Zach Parise leads all scorers with four points, including a hat trick in a season-opening 5-4 win at Pepsi Center on Oct. 8. Defenseman Francois Beauchemin has three points to lead the Avalanche.

Wild team scope: Minnesota will be without goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who sustained a minor groin strain during the second period Saturday. The Wild play their next three games on the road, but will return home for two days after the game on Monday. Wild coach Mike Yeo said it's possible Dubnyk could return for back-to-back games against the Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks next weekend. "Where we're at in the season, we're obviously not going to put him in the net if he's at risk of hurting himself and being out longer," Yeo said. "Probably good timing with the week we have right now." With Dubnyk out, Darcy Kuemper will start. He made the final nine saves Saturday. Niklas Backstrom will serve as Kuemper's backup.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado will look to break a recent trend against Minnesota; the teams have played home-and-home series in each of the past four seasons. All four times, the team that won the first game won the second. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov should start; he was outstanding on Saturday (41 saves). In six games since returning from a groin injury, Varlamov is 3-2-0 with a .912 save percentage. The Avalanche have alternated wins and losses in those games.

-- by Dan Myers for NHL.com --