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Colorado Avalanche |
7 MT / 9 ET / 2 GMT |
Phoenix Coyotes |
| 36-21-6 | March 4th, 2010 |
37-22-5 |
| 78 pts | Jobing.com Arena |
79 pts |
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6th in West |
Glendale, AZ |
5th in West |
Full disclosure: I'm writing this on Wednesday night before the puck drops on the Ducks' game. I have no idea if the Avalanche rebounded from the dismal outing on Monday, or if Craig Anderson suffered a season-ending injury or if Peter Mueller scored 7 goals in his Avalanche debut.
None of it matters, though. Regardless of how last night played out, the Avalanche need wins. They especially need wins against teams directly above them in the standings, such as...the Phoenix Coyotes. Yes, this will be Wolski's first game in a Coyote's uniform and it comes against his old club. Yes, it will be Mueller's first game against his old club, in his old arena. And, I'm figuring, it will be Stephane Yelle's first game as an Avalanche (sorry about the unipron, Stephane). But tonight's game isn't really about new faces or tiebreakers or momentum or even revenge against Martin Hanzal for giving Kyle Cumiskey a concussion with his douchetacular last-minute boarding penalty the last time these teams met. It is simply about the Avalanche needing 2 points.
The Avalanche will yet again be playing in the 2nd half of back-to-back games tonight, but they should be used to that by now. If not, they're going to be in trouble as 10 of their final 20 games are in a set of back-to-backs (and 9 of those 10 games are on the road). Eek.
I'm confident the Avalanche will tonight, though. They'll have some extra incentive to do so: a birthday win for our fearless leader Joe.
Avalanche vs Coyotes coverage
Dustin is on recap duty tonight. Go Avs!