No games on the agenda tonight that will have an effect on the Avalanche's post season dreams. Please give your blood pressure a much needed break so you can postpone that check up with your cardiologist for at least one more day. Here are the standings as of last night:
Busted Twigg: It's all comes down to Dallas and San Jose. If San Jose can take two from Dallas, it seriously helps the Avs. They got the first one last night. Calgary's tragic number is down to 1, I believe. With San Jose in the 8th position at 90, they've equaled Calgary's maximum after their OT loss. Calgary has the ROW tiebreaker currently, so they're not absolutely gone yet.
I've narrowed the projections to only the bubble around the 8th spot. Chicago, Detroit, and Nashville are well out of this scrap. I also reset the time scale on the graph to cut down the visual clutter. The Playoff Line slides up to 94 with San Jose.
3. Los Angeles (96)
7. Phoenix (95)
8. San Jose (94)
9. Dallas (91)
10. Colorado (90)
11. Calgary (88)
Avalanche playoff scenarios:
Assuming Colorado wins out with 2 ROW, the following have to happen for the Avs to end up above the other bubble teams:
DAL: 1-2-0, 91 points - COL wins on points (SJS, NSH, STL remaining)
SJS: 1-2-0, 92 points - COL wins on ROW (DAL, LAK, LAK remaining)
LAK: 0-2-1, 92 points - COL wins on ROW (EDM, SJS, SJS remaining)
PHX: 0-2-1, 92 points - COL wins on ROW (CBJ, STL, MIN remaining)
As I said yesterday in the comments, the most likely situation is for the Avs to pass San Jose and Dallas. Both have difficult schedules, and a win by either doesn't completely destroy the Avs chances. At first glance, the Avs look to have a remote chance at 7th, but the two remaining games between the Sharks and Kings eliminate that possibility as the two teams can only have one win between them for the Avs to pass both. This cannot
happen.
It's all about the 8th.