Wild vs. Avalanche Live Stream WATCH Online: NHL 2015 Week 9, Free Updates & Game Coverage

Hockey's back for the official 2015-2016 NHL season, so get ready, MstarsNews readers!

The Minnesota Wild battle it out on the ice against the Colorado Avalanche to kick-off Week 9 of the regular season on Monday, December 7 at 9:00 p.m. EST from the Pepsi Center in Denver. Read on to see where fans can watch and listen to a live stream of the Monday evening hockey game online and catch up-to-date feeds and coverage on highlight plays and scores.

Now entering mid-season, Minnesota maintains an impressive Top 10 spot in Jonathan Willis' official NHL power rankings for Bleacher Report, while Colorado still lags far behind (out of a total 30 teams):

Wild (7): "A week of perfection has the Wild climbing back up the standings in the tough Central Division. Minnesota now sits just two points back of the Blues in second place and does so with the luxury of having two games in hand. Wins over Chicago, Toronto and Colorado, in which the team allowed just a single goal combined, have the defence and goaltending looking good. Unfortunately, NHL.com reports that goalie Devan Dubnyk has a mild groin strain for the time being."

Record: 14-7-4 (3rd in Central Division).

Avalanche (26): "Colorado polished off a three-game road trip with a pair of one-goal wins over the Devils and Rangers before returning to Denver and getting shut out 3-0 by the Minnesota Wild. Before winning those two games, the Avs were on a 2-5-0 run, so this past week certainly represents a step in the right direction. Matt Duchene scored a goal in each of the wins and now has 13 goals and 22 points in just 17 games since the start of November. His hot run more or less coincides with general manager Joe Sakic telling B/R's Adrian Dater that, outside of Nathan MacKinnon, he was 'always talking with teams' about his trade options."

Record: 11-15-1 (7th in Central Division).

Tonight's game will be broadcasted live on local sports channels FSN+ and  Alt2.

For fans who want to try out a free live stream (which may mean downloading a torrent), click here. Also try this or another option.

For a one-time fee, fans can access a NHL Gamecenter Live pass.

ESPN, ESPN Scoreboard, and NHL.com  are both good sources for up-to-date game coverage and feeds.

More radio listening options for Wild and Avalanche.

Official NHL team websites: Wild and  Avalanche.

Enjoy tonight's highly-anticipated hockey game, and always stick with MstarsNews for additional NHL gameday coverage this week. Which division rival will snag the big win tonight?