Dater: Easy Avs Upcoming Schedule Is Chance To Take Commanding Division Lead

And other Avs thoughts

In the next eight games, the Avalanche play the San Jose Sharks (twice), Chicago Blackhawks, Ottawa Senators, Arizona Coyotes (twice), St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets.

The Avs currently hold a two-point lead in the Central Division over the Jets, and Saturday night’s game in Winnipeg figures to be a tough one. Those other seven games, though, are all very winnable-looking on paper and the Avs have a great opportunity in this stretch to put some distance between them and division competitors and, at the very least, make getting home-ice for the first round of the playoffs that much easier.

Those other seven teams currently are .500 or below. So, this is the time to may some proverbial hay in the standings and give themselves a buffer for when the schedule gets tougher again.

Let’s get to some thoughts on the Avs overall of late: