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Avalanche visit Wild

Season series: Zach Parise had two goals and two assists as the Minnesota Wild outscored the Colorado Avalanche 8-0 in sweeping two games to begin the season.

Avalanche (22-19-11)

Colorado spent part of practice Friday working on its slumping power play. After going 0-for-3 with the man advantage Thursday in a 3-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, the Avalanche have now gone 22 consecutive power plays without a goal, dipping their season conversion rate to 12.8 percent, 29th in the NHL. "I guess we're going to have to rethink about the players we're going to put on the ice and we're going to have to maybe do things a little different," coach Patrick Roy said after the game Thursday. "We've been giving them a lot of chances to produce and it's not working. Zero in 22, that's not acceptable to me." Defenseman Tyson Barrie was the only player not on the ice Friday, although he will accompany the Avalanche on their quick, two-games-in-two-nights road trip. He is considered questionable for each game. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to start against Minnesota and against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

Wild (24-20-6)

Winners of four in a row, expect little to change with Minnesota's lineup. Forward Justin Fontaine practiced Friday, but is still out with a groin injury. Defenseman Christian Folin has been a healthy scratch the past three games and will be again Saturday. That means Jordan Schroeder and Matt Dumba will play. Yeo was pleased with the play of Schroeder in a 3-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, and although the numbers don't bear it out, Schroeder has been effective in limited time with Minnesota this season. The Wild announced forward Matt Cooke had successful sports hernia surgery and is expected to miss approximately six weeks. Cooke has four goals and four assists in 27 games. With Cooke out, Erik Haula, who had been in and out of the lineup in recent weeks, is expected to see regular minutes. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk has started every game for Minnesota since being acquired from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14 and will get the call again.

by Dan Myers for -nhl.com-

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