The Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators face for the final regular-season contest at Ball Arena. The last time these two teams faced Nashville won in overtime on a game-winning goal from former Avalanche Matt Duchene.

If the Avalanche beat the Predators tonight they will likely face each other in the first round of the playoffs. The Predators can win this game and effectively avoid the Avalanche for an opening-round showdown with the Calgary Flames. I don’t know that it matters to the Avalanche. They have goals that look well beyond the first round and staying healthy is the most important thing to do in the final week of the regular season.

Projected Lineup

Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Artturi Lehkonen — Nazem Kadri — Andre Burakovsky
Alex Newhook — JT Compher — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Darren Helm — Nico Sturm — Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Bowen Byram — Erik Johnson

Injuries: Gabriel Landeskog (OUT), Ryan Murray (OUT)

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