The defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche have a big reason to win their regular-season finale when they hit the road to face the Nashville Predators on Friday.
Colorado, which beat the visiting Winnipeg Jets 4-2 on Thursday, is one point behind the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Central Division. The Avalanche (50-24-7, 107 points) must beat the Predators to win the division, as Dallas (47-21-14, 108 points) owns the tiebreaker if the teams finish tied on points.
“We’ve got to win to win the division, and that’s what we want to do,” said Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen, who set a franchise record with his 55th goal of the season against the Jets. “So it’s kind of a must-win for us.”
The Central Division champion will face the Seattle Kraken (46-28-8, 100 points) in the first round of the playoffs. The runner-up will meet the Minnesota Wild (46-25-11, 103 points).
The Avalanche are on a 6-0-1 run, but the news is not all good. Forwards Andrew Cogliano and Denis Malgin both left the Winnipeg game due to injuries. Colorado has been beset by health issues all season.
“Cogliano is out, upper body. No timetable yet. Malgin (will) probably miss (Friday’s game), too. No timetable,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said postgame. “Every time someone gets hurt, there’s concern that it could be serious or longer than what it takes, but we just have to keep moving on, moving forward. Hopefully we’ll get good information over the next couple of days on both of them.”
Earlier in the day, it was announced that Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog will not return from a knee injury that has kept him out all season.
“This was a tough decision to make,” said Landeskog, who is dealing with an issue that already has required two surgeries and may affect next season, too. “Throughout this entire season, it’s felt like the playoffs have always been the one thing that no matter what I wasn’t going to miss that, but timelines kept getting pushed back.”
The Predators (42-31-8, 92 points) failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign, but they refuse to go gently into the offseason.
Coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Thursday, Nashville has won two straight games and four of five.
“The message from (coach John) Hynes and the staff this morning was that it’s a privilege to play in this league,” forward Kiefer Sherwood told the team’s website after beating the Wild. “So we owe it to the fans, to the organization and everyone. Whether or not (we make playoffs), it’s on us to come out and perform and hopefully end the regular season on a high note.”
The Predators were sellers at the trade deadline and have been beset with injuries to top players Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen, but they were in the mix for a wild-card playoff spot until the final week.
Down the stretch, the Predators posted wins over three of the four clubs that won their divisions: the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes.
“What we talked with the team about … was changing our focus to the final two games and being where our feet are and handling it the right way,” Hynes said. “But there really wasn’t a doubt as we talked to the players. …
“With this particular group over the last six weeks, they’ve been hungry, they’ve been tenacious, and they play with a lot of pride. I thought we did those things (Thursday), and it was good to see.”
–Field Level Media
