It’s a Colorado Avalanche gameday!

The Colorado Avalanche clinched a playoff birth last week, but that doesn’t mean the work is over for them with eight games left on the schedule. They sit three points behind the Dallas Stars in the Central Division and the Western Conference with a game in hand. Columbus is on the opposite end of the NHL spectrum. They are the fourth-worst team in the NHL as the standings currently sit, which will be prime position for securing the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes. Will Colorado get their 48th win against Columbus, or are the Jackets still playing for pride?

Colorado Avalanche

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar made one thing very clear during the playoff push: He’s not ultimately concerned about winning the West or the Central Division. He focuses more on getting his squad tuned up for a cup run. I say with the element of altitude, home ice will always be valuable but not compulsory. The Avs will be happy to be home more often in the cup tourney, making tonight’s seemingly weightless game an important one.

MacKinnon’s home point streak is over, but his hunt for the Hart and Art Ross Trophy is still in full flight. I’d expect him to fill the stat sheet again tonight with a point advantage over Nikita Kucherov for the most points in the NHL. Kuch and the Lightning have nine games left, with Kuch scoring roughly 1.7 points a game. He’ll finish with 141-142 points if he maintains that pace. To me, that means MacK’s magic number is 143 points. That’s 16 points in 8 games. He can do it.

Projected Lineup:

Jonathan Drouin (27) — Nathan MacKinnon (29) — Mikko Rantanen (96)
Arturri Lehkonen (62) — Casey Mittelstadt (37) — Valeri Nichushkin (13)
Miles Wood (28) — Ross Colton (20) — Zach Parise (9)
Brandon Duhaime (12) — Yakov Trenin (73) — Andrew Cogliano (11)

Devon Toews (7) — Cale Makar (8)
Sam Girard (49) — Josh Manson (42)
Jack Johnson (3) — Sean Walker (26)

Note: Val Nichushkin has been in and out of the lineup lately, and with this not being the most competitive contest, I’d expect him to take another night off at a minimum. I wonder if he even made the trip.

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