Minnesota Wild to be severely shorthanded vs. Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild are battling for supremacy in the NHL's Central Division, and tonight's matchup in the Rocky Mountains at Ball Arena is certainly of the important variety.

But if the Wild are to gain a valuable two points in the standings, they'll have to do so while even more shorthanded than they already are. Of course, they're without the services of sniper forward Kirill Kaprizov, who continues to rehabilitate from his injury and doesn't appear to have a solid timeline on a return; additionally, the newly acquired Gustav Nyquist continues rehabilitation of an injury of his own.

Tonight, the Wild will be missing some serious sandpaper in their lineup owing to the absence of bruising forward Ryan Reaves thanks to an upper body injury, while forward Brandon Duhaime is battling an illness. But the good news is that a durable veteran could be taking shifts with Minnesota's forward group.

Defenseman Alex Goligoski is ready to make the leap to forward should the situation arise, according to head coach Dean Evason.

"A lot of different options for us, and we feel very comfortable," coach Dean Evason said. "Talked to Goose this morning that he's very comfortable playing forward. He's excited about it if he gets the opportunity."

Tonight's projected lineup for the Wild is as follows:

Forwards

Marcus Foligno-Ryan Hartman-Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy

Sam Steel-Frederick Gaudreau-Oskar Sundqvist

Mason Shaw-Connor Dewar-Alex Goligoski

Defensemen

Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin-Matt Dumba

Jon Merrill-John Klingberg

Goaltenders

Filip Gustavsson