(Sports Network) - After battling it out for the Northwest Division title all season long, the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche will meet tonight for Game 1 of a best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

With four of the clubs in the division alive in the battle for the crown late in the season, it was the Wild who made the fewest number of mistakes on the way to winning their first-ever Northwest crown as well as the third seed in the West. The Avalanche finished three points behind Minnesota for second in the division and sixth in the Western Conference.

Being division rivals, there will be few surprises in this series. The two teams played three times from mid-March on, with the Wild winning two of three. Overall, the Wild went 5-2-1 versus the Avalanche in 2007-08.

This is the second-ever playoff series between these clubs. Minnesota won the only other postseason meeting, shocking the Avs in seven games of a 2003 conference quarterfinal series.

This is the Wild's third straight year in the playoffs, while Colorado is back after a one-year absence last season that ended a string of 11 straight postseason appearances.

Game 2 of this series is scheduled for Friday night in Minnesota.

The third-seeded Wild were led on offense by right win Marian Gaborik, who had the best season of his young career, setting new career highs in goals (42), assists (41) and points (83).

Gaborik is just 26 years of age, so it will be veterans Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston that will lead the Wild in the postseason out of the locker room. Demitra (15 goals, 39 assists) has 47 career postseason points off of 19 goals and 28 assists, while Rolston has skated in 52 playoff games in his career and won a Stanley Cup Championship in 1994-95 with the New Jersey Devils.

The Wild rely on a balanced scoring attack, as only Gaborik and Rolston (31 goals) broke the 20-goal mark this year for Minnesota. Mark Parrish finished third on the team with 16 goals, while Demitra and defenseman Brent Burns had 15 each.

Niklas Backstrom made 58 appearances in goal for Minnesota this year, 57 of those starts, and finished 33-13-8 with a 2.31 goals against average. He was also decent in his first-ever postseason appearance last year, allowing just 11 goals in five games versus the eventual Stanley Cup champion Ducks.

The sixth-seeded Avalanche didn't like missing the postseason last year, so they brought back some old faces to ensure it didn't happen again.

Led by Joe Sakic, Paul Stastny and Ryan Smyth, as well as mid-season pickups Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote, the Avalanche countered a 95-point 2006-07 finish with another 95 points this year, which this time around was enough to secure the sixth seed.

Colorado has won two Stanley Cup championships since moving from Quebec City to Denver for the 1995-96 season. Foote, Forsberg and Sakic were on both of those title teams, giving the Avalanche some invaluable playoff experience this year.

It is safe to argue that injuries prevented the Avalanche from finishing higher in the standings. Sakic (38 games) missed time due to a hernia, while Stastny sat out 15 games because of an appendectomy. Smyth, meanwhile, missed 18 games with an ankle fracture and another six tests later due to a shoulder injury and a concussion. Even late-comers Forsberg (groin) and Foote (hip) were slowed by injury down the stretch.

Despite missing time, Stastny still led the club with 47 assists and 71 points, while Sakic added 13 goals and 27 assists in 44 games. Sakic also posted the 1,000 assist of his career this season.

Colorado will miss leading-goal scorer Marek Svatos (26 goals) as he is out with a torn left ACL.

Sakic is the club's all-time leader in a host of postseason categories, including games played (162), goals (82) and points (178). Forsberg isn't too far behind, as he has 154 games, 57 goals, a franchise-record 97 assists and 154 points on his Colorado franchise playoff resume. His groin and chronic foot problems could hinder his production, but he did finish strong down the stretch.

The re-emergence of goaltender Jose Theodore could go a long way in how far Colorado goes in the postseason. Theodore hasn't been "the man" between the pipes for a club since playing in 67 games with Montreal in 2003-04.

However, he beat out Peter Budaj early for Colorado's starting job and was solid with a 28-21-3 record and 2.44 goals-against average. Theodore is yet another player on Colorado's roster with playoff experience, as he is 15-20 with a 2.67 GAA in 37 games.

The Wild, who always play well at home, were 25-11-5 in St. Paul this season, while Colorado was just 17-19-5 as the visiting team.