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Avalanche Report

The Rocky

Published April 14, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Minnesota's Marian Gaborik, left, has been held in check so far by Colorado's defensemen, including Ruslan Salei, right.

Photo by Scott A. Schneider / Getty Images

Minnesota's Marian Gaborik, left, has been held in check so far by Colorado's defensemen, including Ruslan Salei, right.

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Amped

The Wild is bracing for what it expects will be a raucous atmosphere tonight at the Pepsi Center.

Game 3 will be the first playoff game in Denver since May 9, 2006, and Minnesota had had discussions about weathering the emotional surge the Avalanche likely will receive in the opening moments of the first period.

"When you have a team coming back home, the fans are always excited to see that," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "That will be a big factor. We know they will raise their game to another level, a higher level. We will have to raise our game to be able to compete against them."

Turn it up

Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore also expects to hear some noise tonight, and he is eager to get back on home ice, where Colorado won its last four regular-season games and nine of the final 10.

"I'm sure the fans are going to be loud, which is going to be good for us," he said. "The fans in Minnesota were really loud. When you're on the road and you make a big save, you kind of hear the crowd's disappointment.

"I don't think you hear it in a way where it's going to affect you, but you can hear between the whistles when they play certain songs and the crowd goes crazy. At home, if there's a big hit or you make a big save, the crowd gets really loud and that can give you a big boost. It's fun."

No space

The Avalanche successfully has handcuffed Wild forward Marian Gaborik, who led Minnesota with 42 goals and 83 points during the regular season.

Gaborik collected four goals and four assists in four games before being held scoreless by Colorado in the regular-season finale, which proved to be a preview of the first two games of the teams' quarterfinal playoff series. The Avalanche has limited the open ice around Gaborik, holding him to only three shots and a minus-2 rating through the first two games.

"They're playing defensively, and there's not a lot of room out there," Gaborik said. "You try to create room by skating, by . . . driving the net and try to open it up in front of the net. That's how you're going to get chances and goals. You just have to battle through."

Avalanche injury report

* Rookie David Jones practiced Sunday and expects to play tonight. He suffered an ankle injury in the second period Friday and missed the rest of the game.

"The day off (Saturday), I really took care of it," said Jones, who has been playing right wing on a line with Ryan Smyth and Tyler Arnason. "I iced it all day and it feels great.

"I just collided with a guy - I'm not really sure who it was - and I got kind of crossed up. I hit his leg and he kicked the outside of my ankle pretty hard. It's kind of just a bone bruise. It was pretty painful at first, but now it's OK. It feels fine. There's a little soreness, but nothing I can't handle."

* Avalanche forwards Peter Forsberg and Ian Laperriere didn't practice Sunday. Coach Joel Quenneville called it a "maintenance day" for both and said, "Everybody is likely to play (tonight)."

* Right wing Scott Parker practiced but won't play. He missed the final 11 regular-season games because of a sprained ankle and the first two playoff games.

Wild injury report

* Lemaire said forward Branko Radivojevic, who suffered a sprained knee on a hit by Paul Stastny on Friday, won't play tonight.

* Forward Mark Parrish didn't make the trip because of a concussion he suffered in Game 1.

* Defenseman Nick Schultz, who had an appendectomy last week, skated again Sunday. "I am surprised that he skated so early after the operation," Lemaire said. "He skated, but he's not ready to have physical activities. He's skating and shooting pucks, which is good for us."