The saying goes, “you can’t win em’ all,” and although the Avalanche put up a nice effort to the contrary, they did in fact finally lose a game on home ice their last time out. Can they respond accordingly in a matchup tonight against the Nashville Predators at Ball Arena? The Preds are a clipping just below .500 this season, and the Avalanche beat Nashville back in December by a score of 4-2. Will we get a repeat of that outcome, or can Nashville steal one in the Mile High City?
Colorado Avalanche: 33-4-8
The Opponent: Nashville Predators 22-20-4
Time: 7:00 p.m. MT
Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, ESPN+
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
I’m of the opinion that the Avalanche were bound to drop a few games here at some point, and with a sudden influx of injuries, that opinion was validated. There is some good news on that front, however, with Avalanche starter MacKenzie Blackwood being taken off of IR earlier this week.
Gabe Landeskog is currently in week two of the 6-8 week assumed window of recovery for his broken ribs. That is, unless he recovers as quickly as Seth Jarvis, who had a very similar injury (also against Florida) and returned just 2.5 weeks after the incident. I, for one, would rather the captain take his time.
MacKinnon currently has 36 goals with 37 games left in the season, and if he wants to break Michel Goulet’s Avs/Nords goal record, he will need 22 more in that same time frame. It almost feels inevitable at this point, and a Mack-trick would speed things up considerably!
Projected Lineup:
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Ross Colton — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Victor Olofsson
Zakhar Bardakov — Ivan Ivan — Gavin Brindley
Sam Malinski — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov — Samuel Girard
MacKenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Nashville Predators
The Predators have been riding a roller coaster of wins and losses this season. Just when it looks like they have corrected course, they start dropping consecutive games again. That said, they are currently climbing up the big drop with two consecutive victories.
The problem in Nashville has been keeping the puck out of their own net, as they have allowed 151 goals this season. For perspective, the Avalanche have allowed only 103 goals in 45 games.
Remember Ryan O’Rielly? It’s been a while, but who can forget this hard-hitting quote from the last time he met the Avalanche in the playoffs?
“We know they have a lot of talent over there, and they work hard. But for us, it’s an exciting challenge. We’re going to have some fun, and we’re going to beat them.”
A lot has happened since that quote, and O’Rielly now finds himself centered in Nashville. He’s still a plenty effective player despite losing a step. ROR was never the fastest guy to begin with, and does his best work by anticipating play and creating chances, so keep an eye on him this evening. You know how it is with former Avs.
Projected Lineup:
Filip Forsberg — Ryan O’Reilly — Luke Evangelista
Michael Bunting — Erik Haula — Steven Stamkos
Tyson Jost — Fedor Svechkov — Matthew Wood
Reid Schaefer — Michael McCarron — Cole Smith
Roman Josi — Nick Perbix
Brady Skjei — Adam Wilsby
Justin Barron — Nick Blankenburg
