Detroit Red Wings	7 MT / 9 ET / 2 GMT	Colorado Avalanche
28-21-12	March 1st, 2010	35-20-6
68 pts	Pepsi Center	76 pts
10th in West	Denver, CO	6th in West

Yesterday afternoon, the Avs' Paul Stastny stood next to Detroit's Brian Rafalski as the two were awarded their Olympic silver medals. They took part in an epic game and need to change gears quickly. Tonight's game may not be for a gold medal, but it is vitally important for both clubs.

As this marquee match-up is the only game on the NHL slate tonight, the ramifications are rather simple for both clubs. If the Avs get at least a point, they will move ahead of Vancouver to the top of the Northwest Division, jumping from 6th to 3rd in the conference. If Detroit gets a win (a point is not enough), they'll jump from 10th in the West to that all-important 8th position.

Of course, because of a bunch of suits, DirecTV customers like myself will have to either skip the game or find an illegal stream (I'll be going for the latter, thanks). This is the last regular season game the Avs are slated to play on the NHL's black hole broadcast network. I'm not ready to start thinking about what happens if this petty bullshit isn't resolved by the time the playoffs start...

Speaking of playoffs, the Avalanche get some ammunition back for their playoff run. Milan Hejduk and possibly Matt Hendricks will be back in the lineup tonight after missing 14 and 12 games respectively. [EDIT: No Hejduk tonight, per AD] Kyle Cumiskey was expected to be back as well, but is still not recovered from his recent concussion and will miss the game. This is also the Avs' last game before the NHL trading deadline, so it may be the last time we see some players in an Avalanche unipron (or Avalanche press box). In other news, Ryan Stoa has been reassigned to Lake Erie.

Tonight is Valeri Kamensky night in Denver. It's also another group attendance game for Denver Mile High Hockey members.  The group is meeting at Old Chicago's on 14th and Market between 5 and 6:30 - even if you're not going to the game, stop by and say hi. Wish I lived a littler closer. Anyway, we're going to have to think of a name for these folks. Is Mile High Club already taken?

Derek has the recap tonight. Enjoy your Monday everyone!

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