Colorado Avalanche Final Score: Wild Defeat Avalanche, 4-3

After a delay to the start of the second half of their season, the Colorado Avalanche went down in defeat to the Minnesota Wild, 4-3, on Thursday night. Current Wild player and former Avalanche winger Andrew Brunette scored twice in Minnesota's victory.

Minnesota's Kyle Brodziak scored 33 seconds into the game and then half a minute later Brunette scored his first goal of the game. Colorado's Milan Hejduk brought the game to a 2-1 score with a goal at 11:47 in the second period, but Brunette answered back nearly five minutes later with second goal of the game.

Hejduk struck again for the Avalanche 45 seconds into the third period to close the gap to 3-2. However, Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored a goal to at 11:26 to increase Minnesota's lead to 4-2. Colorado's Chris Stewart scored the team's third goal with 11 seconds left in the game. It was Stewart's first goal since he returned from a broken hand on Jan. 14.

Minnesota's Jose Theodore made 38 stops on 41 shots, while Colorado's Craig Anderson allowed four goals on 25 shots.

The Avalanche (25-20-6, 56 points) host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, Feb. 5. The puck drops at 1:00 p.m. MT.

Avalanche Vs. Wild: Playoff Hopefuls Face Off

It's finally here. The home stretch of the NHL regular season, where every game matters in the standings. The Western Conference is extremely tight this season, as nine teams are currently separated by only five points in the standings. Of those nine, only five are going to still be around come playoff time.

Tonight's game between the Colorado Avalanche and their division opponent -- the Minnesota Wild -- carries serious playoff implications.The two teams are separated by a single point in the standings, with the winner back in the playoff picture.

Minnesota is a hot team, winning five of their past six games to enter the playoff conversation. They've enjoyed some spectacular goaltending from Niklas Backstrom and Anton Khudobin, and the offense has scored four or more goals in four of the past six games.

Colorado has been heading in the opposite direction since mid December. They have only won two games in a row once in that span, and the offense has failed to display the effortless firepower from the first three months of the season. The return of Chris Stewart has yielded few results, as he has two points in six games. Though there is good news on the horizon --Peter Mueller, Peter Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, and David Jones have all been skating with the team -- none of these players will be available to help the short-handed Avalanche tonight.

If Colorado wants to make the playoffs this season, they need to start winning games and making a move in the standings. Eight of their 13 games this month are on the road.

Craig Anderson will get the start in net for Colorado. Niklas Backstrom, fresh off his 1-0 shutout over the Los Angeles Kings, will get the start for Minnesota.

Puck drops at 7:00 pm MST.