By Jordan Long
The Colorado Avalanche have 2 games left in the regular season. They will face the Nashville Predators tonight, ending against the Minnesota Wild tomorrow. Of course, the Avalanche will be in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This begs the question, who would Colorado want to play in the first- round?
The Avalanche will have home ice advantage throughout the Western Conference Playoffs. Any game 7 will be played on home ice until the Stanley Cup Final. The Florida Panthers lead the Presidents’ Trophy race. Florida is 2 points up on Colorado with 2 to play. In a first-round series, the Avalanche could face Nashville or Dallas . Both of these teams are in their division.
The Dallas Stars won the season series 2-1. Of course, that was in the regular season. The Stars though can be a tough team for the Avalanche. They can put the puck in the back of the net. There are a few players the Avalanche would have to key on, Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski, and Tyler Seguin. All of them have the speed to create scoring chances. The Avalanche defense would need to shut the door on them. Of course, the Avalanche have a goaltender who can stop the puck in big games in Darcy Kemper. He can keep them in games.
The Stars though, don’t have the experience in goal. Their starter right now is Jake Ottinger. He has been outstanding in the regular season with a record of 29-15-1, a goals against average of 2.54 and a save percentage of .915. Those are great numbers, but he has never started a postseason game in his career.
This might be Colorado’s first-round opponent. The Stars sit in the first Wild Card spot by one point but have one game left, a possible two points. Nashville is one point behind the Stars but has 2 games left, a possible 4 points. Nashville has to win both games which would give them a total of 99 points. A Dallas win puts them at 98. The only way Colorado can face Nashville is if Nashville loses one or both games and Dallas wins their final game. In that scenario, Dallas’s total is 98 while Nashville is at 97 or 95.
Looking at Nashville who could face Colorado in the first-round, they have played the Avalanche two times, not including tonight’s matchup. Colorado beat Nashville on November 27, 6-1, and then dropped an overtime game to them on January 11th, 5-4.
Nashville can be dangerous with the puck. Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Tanner Jeannot, and Roman Josi can score. They all have great vision on the ice to skate past the Colorado’s defensemen and can slide the puck to an open teammate for them to put the puck in the back of the net.
When it comes to goaltending, they could be missing a key piece. Juuse Saros is out with a lower body injury. He carried this team this year with a record of 38-25-3, a goals against average of 2.64 and a save percentage of .918. His status for the playoffs is up in the air leaving David Rittich and Connor Ingram as the two goaltenders. Neither one is as good as Saros. Rittch’s record is 5-3-4 with a goals against average of 3.56 and a save percentage of .883. Ingram on the other hand didn’t have a lot of ice time with Nashville. His record is 1-1 with a goals against average of 3.02 and a save percentage of .906.
The Avalanche though can beat both the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators. They have the team to do so. In the end, it won’t matter who they play. If they have Kemper make big saves, play well on special teams and on 5 on 5 situations, that will be good enough for them to get to the 2nd-round and beyond. The goal though for the Avalanche is to win a Stanley Cup. Anything less then that will be a disappointment.
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