Game 80 Preview: Wild @ Avalanche

It took 79 games, but the Avalanche played their best game of the season Tuesday night, coming back from 3-0 to defeat the Western Conference leading Chicago Blackhawks in overtime. While in recent games it has been the team's youth showcasing, Tuesday night it was the Matt Duchene show. Quiet every since he stayed in Colorado after the trade deadline, Duchene turned back into the all-star forward we have known him to be. But as the Avs take the ice against the Minnesota Wild for the final home game of the year Thursday night, one can't help but wonder if this will be Duchene's last home game as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

I was there nearly eight years ago when Duchene took to the Pepsi Center ice for the first time. As Sakic's number 19 rose to the rafters, it was expected that the next Sakic was on the ice in number 9. Unfortunately for Avs fans and Matt Duchene, that dream just never came to fruition. This summer that same Sakic may send the man that was supposed to be the next Sakic away from Colorado. I'll be in attendance tonight. Will it be the last home game of the Matt Duchene era in Colorado?

LINES

Bourque-MacKinnon-Andrighetto

Nieto-Compher-Duchene

Landeskog-Jost-Grimaldi

Grigorenko-Soderberg-Colborne

Barberio-Johnson

Beauchemin-Barrie

Siemens-Goloubef

Pickard

Smith

NOTES

- The 51 shots the Avs had against Chicago was a season high and only the second time the team has passed 40 shots this season.

-  Tuesday was Duchene's first multi-point game since February 19th.

- With this being my final preview of this painful season, this song only seems fitting...

GAME INFO

Game time: 7pm MT

TV: ALT