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Colorado Avalanche Hope to Re-Enter Playoff Bracket with Win

By Nadia Archuleta

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 02: Carl Soderberg #34 of the Colorado Avalanche fights for position against Bryan Little #18 of the Winnipeg Jets at the Pepsi Center on January 2, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - JANUARY 02: Carl Soderberg #34 of the Colorado Avalanche fights for position against Bryan Little #18 of the Winnipeg Jets at the Pepsi Center on January 2, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche hope to re-enter the playoff bracket by beating the toughest team in the Central Division, the Winnipeg Jets.

The Colorado Avalanche have given themselves a steep hill to climb — re-entry into the 2019 NHL Playoffs. They fell out of the playoffs at the beginning of the month with a loss to the Vancouver Canucks. It took them all the way until the middle of the month to record a win — and by then, their playoff hopes were looking dim.

Luckily for Colorado, the majority of the Central Division has also been up and down all season. Long story short, the Avalanche could climb back into that final wild card berth with a win tonight.

Not that wins are ever easy, but tonight’s presents as an especially difficult one. Colorado is facing the Winnipeg Jets, the leaders of the Central Division. The Jets are the team the Avs just beat in their home barn last week — a fact that’s sure to give a little extra pep to the step of tonight’s players.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: February 20, 6:30 pm MT
TV Networks: ALT,  ESPN+, SN (Jets’ Feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (FM 92.5)

Line Combinations

On Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Colorado Avalanche rolled out some wonky line combinations:

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I was an instant non-fan. Then my favorite young guy, Tyson Jost, scored a sick spin-o-rama goal, Andrew Agozzino earned his first NHL goal, and even Matt Calvert got in on the scoring. I’m not going to say I was converted to loving the line combinations, but they seemed to work.

Once. At the time of writing, the current lineup hadn’t been released. I don’t expect anything too different. However, the troubling matter is that the top line isn’t scoring, even when they’ve been dispersed. Here are February stats, which is essentially what the All Stars have achieved for the Avs in nine games since the All Star break and bye-week:

To put it into perspective, 28-year-old career AHLer Agozzino achieved in one night (1 goal, 1 assist) what it’s taken Rantanen nine games to achieve. I know there’s a bigger picture at play, but that bigger picture is that the top players for the Avs have largely disappeared at the most critical juncture for the team.

I want to see a ton more Josty goals (so a certain contingent of Avs fans will quiet down about his being a bust) and love the feel-good story of guys like Aggy. However, the top guys gots to be the top guys most nights, especially when it matters most.

Special Teams

The Colorado Avalanche’s power play was beautiful on Monday night. It was not so beautiful watching the team give the Knights four power plays, but it was glorious to see the Avs stop them all. It had been so long since Colorado’s penalty was effective, much less good.

The power play, on the other hand… not so much. In the time span since the break, Colorado has exactly zero goals in nine games. In that time span, they’ve had 26 attempts. 26 attempts! A middling power play is around 18% in that time — that would come out to four or more goals! Maybe one or two more wins for the Avs — or at least an overtime point or two.

Colorado is not a team based on defense. With the firepower the Avs have, they’re build as a high-octane offensive team. But they’ve got to be at least middling on the power play.

Next. Some of the Youngsters Playing for the Avs. dark

After tonight, the Colorado Avalanche will face the Winnipeg Jets just one more time, for the final home game of the season on April 4. So far Colorado has gone 1-2 against Winnipeg. Making it 2-2 tonight would help them have a chance to still be in playoff contention in that last game.

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