Colorado Avalanche won’t play Predators Friday night

DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 03: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche advances the puck against Mattias Ekholm #14 of the Nashville Predators in the second period during Game One of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena at Ball Arena on May 03, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 03: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche advances the puck against Mattias Ekholm #14 of the Nashville Predators in the second period during Game One of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena at Ball Arena on May 03, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche were scheduled to hit the ice against the Nashville Predators on Friday evening. Unfortunately, there was a water main break in the Stars’ rink, causing some flooding.

This news just gives the Avalanche an extra day to rest up before they have to play again. Their matchup against the Predators has yet to be rescheduled but the team will play at home against the Dallas Stars on Saturday at 7pm ET.

At the end of the day, the postponement could be a great thing for the Colorado Avalanche.

It has been a tough year for the Avalanche in terms of injuries the team has suffered. Gabriel Landeskog is slowly but surely making his return at some point but has been on long-term injured reserve. Valeri Nichushkin had foot surgery and while he’s no longer on crutches, he still has some time before he makes his return to the ice.

Shane Bowers, Kurtis MacDermid and Darren Helm remain out.

With the postponement of the Predators matchup, the Avalanche get to stay home and not travel, which, in sports, is always a good thing. It gets pretty tiring having to fly to different areas of the world every day or couple of days.

Thankfully, the flight distance from Denver to Nashville is approximately just two hours, so the team hadn’t even boarded the plane to fly east.

The Dallas Stars play a game against the Winnipeg Jets at home on Friday night. The Avalanche get a potential advantage here as they won’t be playing back-to-back games. In the end, will it matter? Maybe, maybe not. Colorado has fought extremely hard this season, although coach Jared Bednar hasn’t always been happy even following victories.

The Avalanche still have some work to do and it would help a ton if they could go a stretch without suffering some injuries, which has hindered their progress a little bit this season.