The Avalanche could win the Central Division with a win over the Predators

Denver – The Colorado Avalanche has one last chance to secure its third straight Central Division title by defeating the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Friday (8 p.m. ET; BSSO, ALT, ESPN+, SN NOW) in the final game of the 2022-23 NHL regular season.

“We have to win to win the division, and that’s what we want to do,” striker Mikko Rantanen said Thursday after the defending Stanley Cup champions moved the Avalanche to within one point of the first-place Dallas Stars with a 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Ball Arena. “So it’s kind of a must-have for us.”

The Avalanche (50-24-7) needs a win to edge out the Stars (47-21-14), who defeated the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in Thursday’s regular season finale. Dallas got its first tiebreaker over Colorado thanks to a more regulation win (39-35).

The Avalanche and the Predators make up a match originally scheduled for November 26 that was postponed when a major water erupted at the Bridgestone Arena. Nashville (42-31-8) did not qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

If Colorado wins Friday, it will face the Seattle Kraken (46-28-8), the first wild card in the Western Conference playoffs, in the first round of the Western Conference. If the Avalance loses on Friday, they will still be in second place in the Central and face the Minnesota Wild (46-25-11), who will be in third place in the Central.

Matches 1 and 2 of either series will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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“huge” center Evan Rodrigues He said. “We’ve had some adversity this year with injuries, and no matter our lineup, we’ve fought hard and fought our way to winning the division, and that’s our focus right now.”

Colorado ranks third in the NHL with 457 man games lost to injury, and was without team captain Gabriel Landeskoog all season following knee surgery. Landeskog will not return to the playoffs.

“I thought I would be able to play the second half of the season,” Landskog said. “We gave it our best shot, and it just didn’t work out. Moving forward we continue to explore options, but I felt like that was the decision I had to make at this point for everyone involved, for my teammates and myself.”

Colorado will also be without defensemen Cal Makar (lower body) f Josh Manson (lower body) and front Andrew Cogliano (upper body), Darren Helm (lower body), f Dennis Malgin (Unannounced) Friday. Cogliano and Malgin were both injured Thursday. There is no timetable for either of them to return.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said, “Every time somebody gets hurt, there’s a concern that it could be dangerous or longer than it takes, but we just have to keep going, moving forward. Hopefully we get good information about it.” In the next two days on each of them.”

Manson, who has missed 21 games, is expected to be ready to start the playoffs.

“It’s definitely the toughest season I’ve been through,” he said. “Obviously from missing games, but just from a rehab standpoint and wanting to be better and then not be better. And then when you get better, it gets worse again, and then that process starts all over again. It was hard, a little bit harder with End of the season schedule, but with that said, I think the timing is right for the first game.”

If the Avalanche beat Nashville, they would face the Seattle Kraken in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Seattle is the first wild card to enter the Stanley Cup playoffs from the Western Conference. If the Predators beat the Avalanche, Colorado will remain in second place in the Central Division and face third-place Minnesota Wild.

Colorado will do its best to focus on the task at hand; The win would mark the longest streak of division titles since the Quebec Nordiques/Avalanche won nine straight titles from 1994-2003, including cup championships in 1996 and 2001.

“It’s a great opportunity, and you have to take advantage of these opportunities when they are given [them]said the goalkeeper Alexander Georgiev, who made 18 saves on Thursday. “So get a good rest and come back again tomorrow.”