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The Colorado Avalanche (45-25-3) continue their homestand against the St. Louis Blues (39-28-7) in an afternoon matinee at Ball Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 2:38 p.m. MT.
Read More: 10 Observations: It’s All Business For the Avalanche These Days — The Kings Had No Chance (+)
Nothing is stopping the Avalanche these days — not teams fighting for a wildcard spot or an L.A. Kings squad that had won nine of 10 before being dominated by Colorado on Thursday.
The Blues are the next challenger, and perhaps the toughest one. St. Louis has won eight straight games and is creeping closer to the Minnesota Wild for the top wildcard spot. It’s a far cry from where they were just two months ago when a playoff seed seemed more unreasonable.
For the Avs, it’s not about who they’re playing — instead, it’s about continuing to do the things that have made them successful. Which, outside of a couple of late third-period hiccups, has been pretty much everything.
The Avalanche are scoring at will, playing strong defensively, getting saves from their goalies, and dominating special teams.
Against the Kings, they won 4-0 on the back of a two-goal performance from Martin Necas and a 22-save shutout from Mackenzie Blackwood. The Avs scored twice on three power-play opportunities.
The offense has been coming from all over the lineup, with Logan O’Connor getting the game-winning goal. They’ll look to continue that against the Blues.
Read More: How Charlie Coyle has Improved the Avs’ Third Line
St. Louis is on fire as of late. Throughout this eight-game streak, the Blues have outscored the opposition 37-12 and have played a lot of one-sided games. Although it’s worth noting that they’ve not faced the toughest of competition.
You can only play the schedule that’s given to you. But for the Blues, that included three of those wins against the lowly Nashville Predators over nine days. It also includes wins against the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, and Minnesota Wild.
The Avs are a far different beast than any of those teams. Colorado won the first meeting 5-0 at Ball Arena in January before St. Louis answered back two weeks later with a 3-1 win coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Given the early game, the goalies and line combinations are not confirmed. Avs coach Jared Bednar said on Friday that Erik Johnson could be an option. He’s still listed as injured for my projections below.
I’m assuming it’ll be Mackenzie Blackwood going up against Jordan Binnington, but we’ll get a better idea once pre-game warm-ups begin.
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Read More: Good & Bad: Necas Shines As Avalanche Take Down L.A. Kings
Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Valeri Nichushkin
Artturi Lehkonen — Brock Nelson — Martin Necas
Miles Wood – Charlie Coyle — Ross Colton
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Ryan Lindgren — Sam Malinski
Samuel Girard — Keaton Middleton
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Avalanche Game 73 vs Los Angeles Kings: Lines, Notes & How To Watch
Instead of playing Wood, I would rather see O’Connor move up to replace Kiviranta on the 3rd line and give Vesey a chance to play on the 4th line.
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