When the Avs’ signed gritty forward Ryan Smyth last summer, it was with the expectation that he’d score big goals. Well, he did just that in Game Six, firing a one-timer past Niklas Backstrom to score the series-winning goal for Colorado.

The Minnesota Wild won their first ever Northwest Division crown this year in a very tight race that came down to just a few points at the end of the season. But will that be enough to carry them over into the playoffs? Here's a preview.

It definitely was a Wild weekend for Minnesota. It started out with the Friday Night Fight Club, when they took on the Canucks in a battle royale that ended in a 4-0 shutout for Niklas Backstrom, and ended with a 3-2 victory over the Avs.

Captain Marian Gaborik and the Minnesota Wild are locked in a tight battle for the Northwest Division title. On Saturday night, watch them take on the Los Angeles Kings in brilliant 1080i on HDNet, live at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Minnesota Wild have fallen to third place in the tight Northwest division. And while most analysts still expect the Wild to make the playoffs, that desired outcome is far from a certainty.

The Wild had never lost to the Thrashers heading into Friday night's contest. But even though the Wild dominated Atlanta for almost 55 minutes, it was Ilya Kovalchuk and the Thrashers who emerged victorious in the end.

The Minnesota Wild are still atop the Northwest Division, though their lead varies day by day, with Calgary always within a game. With close games against the cellar dwellers of the league, the Wild are certainly making the push to the second season interesting.

The Wild like to rotate the captaincy month to month instead of just picking one player for the job and waiting until the end of his career to pick another. For this month, star Slovak Marian Gaborik will wear the "C" in Minnesota.