Colorado Avalanche Rooting Guide for March 18th

It was a great week for the Colorado Avalanche with the Avs picking up 7 of 8 possible points with some dramatic wins over Anaheim (Landeskog's OT winner), Buffalo (with McGinn's tying goal coming with 1.9 seconds left) and the Rangers (Semyon Varlamov outdueling Henrik Lundquist). The Avs currently sit in 7th spot and, while those "games in hand" for the other team are still looming large, Colorado has two opportunities this week to help their cause in a head-to-head matchup against a team in their standings' cluster fuck. Three teams - Phoenix, Calgary and San Jose - will lose one of those precious GIH this week. Perhaps the biggest news: here are only two potential 3-point killers on the slate this week with San Jose playing LA on Tuesday and Phoenix on Saturday.

Tonight, there are three games that could impact the Avs' playoff chances and all three are easy games to pick. At 7 eastern, the Blackhawks host Washington and then at 8 it will be Phoenix at Edmonton and Calgary hosting Columbus. No tough calls here, as we're rooting for the Capitals, Oilers and Blue Jackets to win in regulation. Any extra rooting vibes you have should go to the Oilers. If Edmonton wins (regulation or otherwise), then the Avalanche will control their playoff destiny all week long meaning as long as the Avs win, they'll stay in the top 8 and can't be bumped out on their idle days. So, go Oilers; you can go back to sucking again tomorrow.

By the way, there are some great ticket deals out there for that huge game against Calgary coming up on Tuesday.