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| Colorado Avalanche | 7:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm MT | New York Rangers |
| 28-33-1 | February 28, 2009 | 31-24-8 |
| 57 points | Madison Square Garden | 70 points |
| 15th in the West | New York, NY | 7th in the East |
Twenty games left. Twenty left in this season from...not quite hell, because it hasn't quite been that bad. Let's call it the season of purgatory. And speaking of "purging", this may be the next-to-last chance to see some fan favorites in those dreadful Avalanche uniprons. It also may be the next-to-last chance to seem some non-fan favorites in those dreadful Avalanche uniprons. Oh, to dream...Speaking of dreams, last night I dreamed Ryan Stoa got called up and had a big game in his NHL debut. Feel free to file that away for future reference - but keep in mind, I was watching the Stoa game in the Dunder-Mifflin basement so it's probably more an indicator that I have some serious issues and not a reliable predictor of the future.
The Avalanche have lost 3 in a row and haven't had a lead in the last 173 minutes of hockey. And most of that "hockey" has been rather dreadful. The Rangers have lost their last 4, but have a new coach - John Torterella - to turn things around. You may remember Torterella as one of the several good coaching candidates the Avalanche chose not to pursue this summer.
I mentioned this the other day, but the Rangers have one statistical oddity that really jumps out to me: they are ranked 6th in shots per game (32.3) but dead last in goals scored (2.29). Let's just hope they come up firing blanks again tonight.