Avs-Preds Running Diary (Or, How I Survived A Near-Heart Attack)

Avs win the division in classic tortoise-and-hare fashion

Game 82… Not quite as important or big as the one in 2018, but it still has some significance.

In 2018, we needed a win against the Blues on the final day of the season to get into the playoffs as the 8-seed and the right to play Nashville in the first round. Tonight, we need a win against the Preds to get the division crown for the 12th time since moving to Denver in 1995.

Hopefully, there are no water issues in the arena…

A win would…
…Give Colorado the top seed in the Central Division and 109 points, one more than the Stars.
…A first-round match-up with Seattle in the Kraken’s first-ever postseason appearance.
…Be awesome.

A loss would…
…Drop the Avs to second in the division.
…Create another postseason match-up against Minnesota: 2003 (L, 4-3), 2008 (W, 4-2) and 2014 (L, 4-3).
…Suck. Mostly because I hate Dallas. Have since 1999.

• Georgiev gets the start in goal. A win for the Avs’ first-year net minder would be his 40th of the season, tying him for the league lead with the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark.

• Some lineup adjustments after last night’s game with the Jets: Brad Hunt is replaced by Kurtis MacDermid, while Alex Galchenyuk and Ben Meyers will dress in place of Andrew Cogliano and Denis Malgin who are both out with injuries following the Winnipeg game.

LET’S GOOOOOOOOO!

FIRST PERIOD

• 1-0 | 00:32/1st: Devon Toews, 7th (Nathan MacKinnon, Evan Rodrigues) — No wasting time in this one. Toews throws the puck on net that gets deflected in the slot and in for the goal. Easy Peezy, Lemon Squeezey. MacKinnon with the primary helper for his 69th assist of the season… nice.

• 2-0 | 3:20/1st: Nathan MacKinnon, 40th (Devon Toews, Mikko Rantanen) — Mack reaches 40 goals for just the second time his career and does it in style. Dangling through the offensive zone, he puts on the display of those sweet hands before pounding in a shot from close range for an early 2-goal lead. Less than four minutes into the game and the Dogg and Toews have multiple points.

• 2-1 | 5:24/1st: Kiefer Sherwood, 6th (unassisted) — Well… that sucks. Georgiev seemed to be surprised by the timing and location of that shot and it’s a 1-goal game again.

• 3-1 | 13:14/1st: Nathan MacKinnon, 41st (Sam Girard) — Oh. My. God. Did he really just do that? A great area pass off the boards from Sammy G leads to the rush where Mack splits two D, messes around with his forehand/backhand and deposits the puck into the back of the net for his THIRD point of the period! Tying his career high in goal with his best individual play of the season… Nate wants to win this game. That much is clear.

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• Thanks to his tremendous first period, Nathan MacKinnon (758) has passed Peter Forsberg (755) on the franchise’s all-time points list and now ranks 5th. Milan Hejduk is the next on the list with 805… a figure he might reach by the third period.

• Lars Eller — playing in his 84th game this season — draws a penalty by taking a stick to the face. I spent a bunch of time looking for the last time a player hit that number and realized that Tyson Barrie (Edmonton and Nashville) is playing his 85th game in this one. Eller played 60 games for the Caps before the trade to Colorado for the final 24 contests of the season.

• End of the 1st: Avalanche 3, Predators 1
  SOG: 18-4, COL

  PP: COL (0/2), NSH (0/0)