Colorado Avalanche need victories and good luck as they face Columbus Blue Jackets – NHL Preview
With just two games left in the National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, the Colorado Avalanche are not yet ruled out of the playoff contention, but their chances are slim as they need to win their last two games while relying on their good luck to play
in the postseason.
To clear their first hurdle, Avalanche are going to host the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, who are already eliminated from the playoff contention, on Thursday, April 05, 2012, at Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado.
Despite being eliminated, the Blue Jackets are performing considerably well and if they beat Avalanche, the already slim hopes of the latter will completely end.
Let’s take a look at both teams.
Avalanche
They are ranked at 10th spot in the Western Conference with 88 points after 80 games and are four points behind the eighth-ranked San Jose Sharks.
Avalanche recently lost four games in a row that badly hurt their playoff chances. In their last game, Avalanche managed to end that skid by defeating Calgary Flames, but the damage was already done.
Against Flames, Avalanche were aggressive right from the start. They scored two goals in the first period and added another in the second. Both teams scored a goal each in the last minute of the final period as Avalanche won the game, 4-1.
Avalanche’s coach, Joe Sacco, said after the game:
"We've got five days off now until our next game. We're just going to have to wait and see what happens. Certainly, our young group has played hard all year, and I think we deserve to be in this position that we're in down the stretch."
At that time, the Sharks had the same number of points as Avalanche, but they won their next two games to move up on the points table.
Blue Jackets
They have already been eliminated from the playoff contention and are placed at the bottom of the Western Conference with 61 points after 80 games.
In their last game, Blue Jackets were defeated by Phoenix Coyotes. Before the defeat, Columbus had won three games in a row.
Against Coyotes, Columbus failed to score even a single goal, while the Coyotes managed two goals to win the game.
Predictions
Avalanche have an edge.
The sum of goals scored by both teams might stay under six.
If Blue Jackets win, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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