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Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon is having the time of his young life in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but he realizes the postseason is just getting started. The first-round series with the Minnesota Wild promises to get much tougher, especially now that Games 3 and 4 Monday and Thursday will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The Avalanche won the first two games at the Pepsi Center, 5-4 in overtime and 4-2, with the Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-MacKinnon line doing most of the damage.

"We know we have to win four (games)," MacKinnon said. "Two is great and all, but we did what we had to do on home ice and I think it’s important that we continue to play the same way on the road. It’s going to be different playing in their home building."

The Xcel Energy Center will be loud, but MacKinnon has played in hostile environments before. He said the Colisee in Quebec while playing his first year in junior against Patrick Roy's Remparts was the loudest building he's ever played in.

"I remember you couldn’t hear the anthem," he said. "Quebec fans are pretty intense. In Minnesota it’s going to be similar to the Pepsi Center. We have to remember it’s the same rules, the ice is the same size. Everything’s the same except for the crowd. Once we forget who’s cheering for us, it doesn’t matter if we’re on the road."

The Avalanche had the same record on the road this season as at home -- 26-11-4.

The Stastny line had four goals and six assists in Game 2, when MacKinnon collected his first NHL playoff goal. He and Stastny had a goal and three assists, and Landeskog two goals.

"I didn’t expect how it would go," MacKinnon said. "That’s what makes it so fun. I didn’t put expectations on myself. I just wanted to play hard and have fun out there. Personal success is great, but it wouldn’t mean anything if we weren’t winning.

"It’s always nice to share whatever success you have with your teammates and linemates. We had a pretty good night, but with (goalie Semyon Varlamov) playing so well and with the 'D' moving the puck, it allowed us to play a transitional game and create chances."

MacKinnon is in the media spotlight even more than during the regular season, now that the Denver television outlets and radio types have suddenly discovered there's a hockey team in town. For an 18-year-old, he's handling it quite well.

"With the draft, Memorial Cup and everything last year, it’s nothing too new," he said. "It’s magnified, it’s a little bigger than what I’ve been used to. It’s the same thing. I haven’t put too much thought in that kind of stuff. It’s nice to get attention. but it’s not important to me."

*****

Matt Duchene skated Monday morning and Roy said the team will continue to monitor his progress.

"It was part of the process," Roy told reporters. "The trainer thought it was a good time for him to start skating today. We'll go day-to-day with him. On the skating, if he improves, eventually we'll see if he can get involved with practices and we'll see after that."

The Avalanche isn't going to rush Duchene back into the lineup, especially if the team can survive the first round without him. It's going to take a while for him to get back into game shape as it is.

This was Duchene's first skating session since he sprained the MCL in his left knee in a collision with Jamie McGinn on their first shift March 29 against San Jose.

Center John Mitchell is also on the trip, but he didn't skate. He hasn't been on the ice since sustaining a concussion April 10 against Vancouver.

*****

Wild coach Mike Yeo will start goalie Darcy Kuemper instead of Ilya Bryzgalov and he's making significant line changes. One-time star Dany Heatley and rookie Justin Fontaine will replace Kyle Brodziak and Stephane Veilleux in the lineup, and he's moving several forwards around.

Kuemper missed the final seven regular-season games and Game 1 of the series to recover from a concussion. He stopped all 14 shots he faced Saturday after relieving Bryzgalov in the second period. Kuemper is one of the NHL's bigger goalies at 6-feet-5 and doesn't give shooters much net to shoot at. Not that Bryzgalov does either at 6-3.

Heatley, 33, was a two-time 50-goal scorer in his prime. He had 12 goals and 16 assists in 76 games this season, but he has played well against the Avalanche with eight goals and 21 assists in 29 career games. A big forward at 6-4, 220 pounds, he has 15 goals and 42 assists in 66 career playoff games.

Fontaine, a 26-year-old rookie, had 13 goals and eight assists in 66 games.

The Wild will try a line of Matt Cooke, Erik Haula and Fontaine against the Avalanche's Landeskog-Stastny-MacKinnon unit, and left wings Zach Parise and Matt Moulson will switch lines. Parise will be with center Mikael Granlund, Moulson with Mikko Koivu.

The projected lineups:

AVALANCHE
Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Nathan MacKinnon
Jamie McGinn-Ryan O’Reilly-PA Parenteau
Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Max Talbot
Patrick Bordeleau-Brad Malone-Paul Carey

Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson
Nate Guenin-Tyson Barrie
Andre Benoit-Nick Holden

Semyon Varlamov
Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Scratched: Reto Berra, Stefan Elliott, Ryan Wilson
Injured: Matt Duchene (knee), John Mitchell (concussion) Cory Sarich (back), Alex Tanguay (hip surgery)

WILD
Zach Parise-Mikael Granlund-Jason Pominville
Matt Moulson-Mikko Koivu-Charlie Coyle
Matt Cooke-Erik Haula-Justin Fontaine
Dany Heatley-Cody McCormick-Nino Niederreiter

Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin-Marco Scandella
Nate Prosser-Clayton Stoner

Darcy Kuemper
Ilya Bryzgalov

Scratched: Jonathon Blum, Kyle Brodziak, John Curry, Stephane Veilleux
Injured: Niklas Backstrom (abdominal), Keith Ballard (groin), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (quad)
Suspended: Mike Rupp

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