Avalanche’s Must Win Week Begins With Kings
The Colorado Avalanche bought themselves a couple of days with the Steve Downie trade. The trade deadline is next Monday and the Avalanche have three games before to get things together. The games include: tonight against the Kings, Friday against Columbus and Saturday in Detroit. The Avs sit in 11th place, four points back from the eighth place Kings.
Overall, it’s too early to judge the trade. Sacco seems to bring the best out of newly acquired forwards, specifically Peter Mueller and Tomas Fleischman. Downie spends a lot of time in the box, which will hurt a team that has the fewest power play opportunities in the league.
The trade is not enough to magically turn the team around. No matter what else happens this week, they have to beat the Kings tonight. Since L.A. is leading the pack of last playoff teams, a loss tonight could be it for the Avalanche. If they win tonight, the Avs must find a way to get points this weekend. Columbus is a must win-game for the Avalanche because battling past the Red Wings in Detroit will be next to impossible. Talk about a game the Avalanche may be happy to have Downie on their side.
Going into tonight, the Avalanche will put together their youngest possible line. Matt Duchene, who returned from injury on Sunday against Winnipeg, will join Ryan O’Reilly and Gabriel Landeskog on their line. That’s the most mention the Winnipeg game deserves. Semyon Varlamov will start in net with Giguere returning from injury as his backup. Peter Mueller and T.J. Galiardi are close to returning. The game will be broadcast on NBC Sports.
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