Wrapping up a busy east coast road trip, the Colorado Avalanche make one last stop before returning home in a rematch with the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Not only was that 3-0 Avalanche victory less than three weeks ago but this game will be the first of two meetings this week with the Predators. Needless to say these two teams are going to be very familiar with each other soon.
Colorado Avalanche (21-2-6)
The Opponent: Nashville Predators (10-14-4)
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After a bummer result on Long Island which saw the Avalanche acquire their second regulation loss on the season, they crafted a back-to-back matinee sweep of the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers over the weekend. It wasn’t pretty at times but they got the job done and in return kept their hold on the top spot of the NHL standings with the magical 48 points.
Almost all is right in the world of the burgundy and blue who have recently received Val Nichushkin and Joel Kiviranta back from injury. Both Scott Wedgewood and Gavin Brindley could draw into the lineup tonight as their returns are close as well and if not tonight, then soon.
Nathan MacKinnon continues to lead the league with 49 points but many talented players are close on his heels. He also leads the Rocket Richard race with 24 goals.
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Victor Olofsson
Val Nichushkin – Jack Drury – Ross Colton
Parker Kelly – Zakhar Bardakov – Joel Kiviranta
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Sam Girard – Sam Malinski
Since their last meeting with Colorado a couple weeks ago, Nashville has enjoyed improved play as of late and have even picked up a few points in the standings. They had won four of their last five games but a 6-3 defeat on Saturday night to Carolina was a setback. Still, they have a hole to dig out of to get back in the playoff picture.
Leading the Predators in scoring at this juncture is actually old friend Ryan O’Reilly with 21 points. He’s really pumping up his trade value in doing so. Both Filip Forsberg and Luke Evangelista are right behind with 19 points each.
They say familiarity breeds contempt and that will be put to the test with not one but two games against the Avalanche this week. Nashville is clearly overmatched playing Colorado but a series of rematches in a short time frame doesn’t favor the superior team. We’ve seen the Avalanche fall victim to bad first periods and slow starts as of late, will Nashville continue to force that trend?
Steven Stamkos — Ryan O’Reilly — Luke Evangelista
Filip Forsberg — Erik Haula — Jonathan Marchessault
Reid Schaefer — Fedor Svechkov — Matthew Wood
Michael Bunting — Michael McCarron — Tyson Jost
Nicolas Hague — Roman Josi
Brady Skjei — Adam Wilsby
Nick Blankenburg — Michael McCarron
Scott Wedgewood’s health might be the biggest factor in determining who starts for the Avalanche. Trent Miner was sent back to the Colorado Eagles after the Flyers game so Wedgewood should be good to at least back up. Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent in the back-to-back sweep so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was back in net to close out the road trip.
Justus Annunen has seen the net a little more often for Nashville as of late, most recently in relief in the loss against Carolina. He also received a couple starts at the end of November so it’s possible he could be in net for this game but the Predators starter is clearly Juuse Saros and likely the best chance to thwart the Avalanche.
