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Colorado Avalanche Running at Nashville Predators

By Nadia Archuleta |

The Colorado Avalanche are gearing up for the mother of all runs. By head coach Patrick Roy‘s figuring, the team needs 95 points to make the playoffs. They have 63 points and just 22 games left. That means they need to win 16 more games.

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That effort starts against the Nashville Predators, just the best team in the NHL right now with 87 points. The Predators are also a divisional foe, one the Avalanche are scheduled to meet five times in a season.

The Avs have already faced the Preds three times. The meetings were pretty even. Nashville shut out Colorado once, the Avs shut down the Preds once, and the third game was decided by an overtime that went the Predators’ way.

Needless to say, the Avs need this game to be an out-and-out win. The game is an away game for the Avalanche, being played at Bridegestone Arena.

Storyline

Desperation Hockey

Desperation favors the Avalanche. They genuinely feel they can make the playoffs, but it’s going to take a mini-miracle. The Predators don’t feel the same pressure — they look good to win the President’s Trophy this year for best NHL record.

The Avalanche recently upgraded their system to one that has them shooting the puck 30+ times a game, maintaining puck possession and moving their feet. They didn’t quite manage that first objective in the last game, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They recorded only 18 shots. Luckily, they made five of those shots count.

Keys to the Game

Hot Young Guns

The youngsters for the Colorado Avalanche are all het up, and it’s a thing of beauty. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has six points in the last six games, including a streak of five games with a goal in each.  Center Ryan O’Reilly has five points in the last five. Matt Duchene has four points in the last five, including two goals.

Nathan MacKinnon, of course, recorded his first NHL hat trick against the Lightning.

Those four players are meant to be the centerpieces of the Avalanche offense. They still trail veterans Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay, but they’re catching up. The young guns have to stay hot for the Avs to have a chance.

Blueline Woes

In the game against Tampa, the Avalanche were out their top defensive pairing. Erik Johnson has been sidelined since the All Star Break after undergoing a knee scoping procedure. Jan Hejda was reported as day-to-day with his own knee injury, suffered against the Dallas Stars.

The remaining blueliners did their best to fill the gap. However, when your top shut-down defenseman is 35-year-old Brad Stuart — whose two turnovers resulted in Lightning goals — you’ve got trouble.

Johnson has just finished his re-conditioning stint but hasn’t started skating with the team yet. Hopefully Hejda returns for the Predators game. Otherwise, all the Avalanche players need to step up on defense.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Not

Center John Mitchell has gotten a little quiet of late. He’s taken one or two shots in each of the last games. However, you have to go all the way back to January 13, to see a goal from him. For awhile he was the Avalanche’s best faceoff player, but even that’s tapered off. Hopefully he can chip in with a goal or a better faceoff percentage.

Nashville center Filip Forsberg may have our superstar’s surname, but he’s a bit chill recently. He’s only got one point in the last five games.

Hot

Well, the obvious hot players for the Colorado Avalanche are Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog. Ryan O’Reilly is also looking pretty warm with his five assists in the last five, including two on MacKinnon’s hat trick goals.

Defenseman Tyson Barrie also seems warmed up. He recorded an assist on one of MacKinnon’s goals and scored two goals and an assist in the game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The game starts at 6:00 PM MST and will be broadcast on Altitude TV.

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