Game 3 between Colorado and Minnesota at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul tips Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on TNT and HBO Max. The paper's Wednesday read on the Western Conference's roster-construction argument carries to the NHL side: Colorado is 6-0 in the postseason, has scored 14 goals across the first two games against the Wild (the most in the first two games of any playoff series since the 1988 Flames-Kings 15), and Nathan MacKinnon's three-point Game 2 — a goal and two assists in a 5-2 win — tied Joe Sakic's 1997 record for consecutive three-point playoff games and passed Peter Forsberg for second-most franchise playoff goals. [1] [2] Minnesota cycled to its third goaltender of the playoffs, Filip Gustavsson over Jesper Wallstedt, and still allowed five. [3] What St. Paul tests is whether home ice, a healthier rotation than Game 2's, and the absent Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin produce a series or a sweep — Colorado's depth (Necas, Landeskog, Roy, Nichushkin all scored Game 2) is the argument the Wild now have to answer in 60 minutes.

-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos