The Avalanche regular season cannot end soon enough
What do you say about a team that isn’t playing for anything? Honestly, why am I showing up to write this column when the Avs aren’t showing up to play the games? Just because I made a commitment to cover 82 games and I don’t have a choice?! I am them as they are me, as you are me and we are all together in this farcical end to the season.
It truly is wild how this season has been bookended by a stretch of games with a team trying to just skate by til people get healthy and the games matter again, and it’s made me think a lot about Alexandar Georgiev. If Colorado had been healthy and genuinely competitive to start the season, would Georgiev have been able to dial in a little better and not morph into the Fourgiev we all learned to hate?
Mackenzie Blackwood, playing behind a listless team resting its minor injuries in these games that don’t matter, certainly hasn’t been as bad as Georgiev, but he has let in some stinkers that seem to indicate a wandering mind. If Nathan MacKinnon can punt on his Art Ross chase to rest up for the playoffs, who can blame Blackwood for punting on games to rest his mind in the second period? Right?
I am trying to be forgiving, but it’s definitely hard to watch a team shift down a few gears leading into a playoff series against the truly dangerous Dallas Stars team they’re now officially guaranteed to play in the first round. I will not be surprised if they have trouble gearing back up for Game One.
That said, I am not worried at all about Games Two – Seven. This is gonna be a long, difficult series, but the Avs are going to win it.
FRIDAY FEELS
Since the Avs are playing so sleepy, let’s do Yawns and Bon Bons. Yawns are tiresome, Bon Bons are sweet little dreams!
YAWN: MacKinnon Giving Up the Art Ross
Man, what a boring choice! I know he’s dinged up and resting for the playoffs is the right thing to do since the only award that really matters is the Stanley Cup, buuuut I wanted to see Nate take home some extra hardware and I think this move is going to not only cede the Art Ross to Nikita Kucherov, it’s going to also hurt him in the Hart race and I hate seeing Leon Draisaitl win things.
BON BON: MacKinnon Not Caring About the Art Ross
Hear me out: this is actually wildly badass. Sure, personal accolades like an Art Ross and Hart trophy would bolster MacKinnon’s personal legacy, but dude doesn’t care. He just wants that Stanley Cup at all costs, and I can’t argue with that at all. This is why Chris MacFarland went all in at the deadline – his star forward is all in all the time. I’d leave Cale home with him for the last couple games too if it were up to me.
YAWN: Shootouts
The Avs have had more games go to the shootout in April than they had all season before that. I don’t know if that’s true and I’m not going to look, but it sure feels right, doesn’t it? I’m sick of them, so I know these last two games are definitely going there. Or LA is gonna blow the doors off the Avs in regulation, we’ll see.
BON BON: Landy in Loveland
Adrian covered this extensively already, but I gotta tell you I’m so excited to see 92 out there in a real game after nearly three full years! Sure, AHLers accidentally blowing up his knee because they can’t skate is terrifying, but he HAD to get some game action before the playoffs and he couldn’t do it with the big club so this will have to work. Fingers crossed it’s the first of many games for him this spring.
PREDICTIONS
Who cares at this point? Start the playoffs already. I guess I forgot to factor in Kiefer Sherwood: Avs Killer and MacKinnon taking the night entirely off in my definitely very serious 8-0 prediction for last night. But I committed to predicting wins so let’s do it.
Saturday @ LA: 4-2 W, Defenseman get points on every goal
Sunday @ Anaheim: 6-4 W, Marty Necas hattrick!