Colorado lays it all on the line today for home-ice advantage.
For all the marbles, it goes down today between the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets.
Colorado has their second big test in the last week, having lost their last big game against the Dallas Stars. While there’s an outside chance of both them and the Jets catching Dallas, it’ll all-but be a playoff series preview against these two teams this afternoon.
Colorado Avalanche
While the Avs lost to the Stars on Sunday, they rebounded in a big way behind a Nathan MacKinnon hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild, eliminating them from playoff contention. Cale Makar also registered three points in the needed victory.
Both Makar and MacKinnon will get some help, as Mikko Rantanen is probable to return to the lineup after going through concussion protocol after his hit against the Edmonton Oilers. They’ll need anything they can get in this massive game.
Currently, Colorado is tied with Winnipeg on 104 points but loses the tiebreaker of regulation wins. The best result for the Avs to earn home-ice advantage in the first round is to win in regulation against the Jets and gain ground in that category. Can they accomplish this feat and avoid the season sweep from the Manitoba-based team?
Projected Lines
Jonathan Drouin (27) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Mikko Rantanen (96)
Artturi Lehkonen (62) – Casey Mittelstadt (37) – Valeri Nichushkin (13)
Brandon Duhaime (12) – Ross Colton (20) – Zach Parise (9)
Andrew Cogliano (11) – Yakov Trenin (73) – Joel Kiviranta (94)
Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)
Sam Girard (49) – Josh Manson (42)
Jack Johnson (3) – Sean Walker (26)
Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg comes to the Mile High City riding high, shutting out the aforementioned Stars 3-0 on Thursday night. It kept both theirs and the Avalanche’s chances at first place in the Central Division alive just a couple of days longer.
Looking for their 50th win and to overtake the Avs in this game, it’s a massive matchup for the Jets. A team which was once solidly at the top of the division this season is now fighting for home-ice advantage in this little slide they’ve been on to end their season. But they’ve bounced back brilliantly, currently on a five-game win streak.
Led by Mark Schiefele in the forward group and Josh Morrissey on the blue line, can they drive themselves towards a sixth straight win, and increase the distance between themselves and Colorado to all but earn home-ice advantage?
Projected Lines
Kyle Connor (81) – Mark Schiefele (55) – Gabriel Vilardi (13)
Nikolaj Ehlers (26) – Sean Monohan (23) – Tyler Toffoli (73)
David Gustafsson (19) – Adam Lowry (17) – Mason Appleton (22)
Morgan Barron (36) – Vladislav Namestnikov (7) – Alex Iafallo (9)
Josh Morrissey (44) – Dylan DeMelo (2)
Brenden Dillon (5) – Neal Pionk (4)
Logan Stanley (64) – Dylan Samberg (54)
Goaltenders
We should see each team’s respective number-one netminders, Connor Hellebuyck for the Jets, and Alexandar Georgiev for the Avs.