Avalanche Look to Avoid Melting in Wild Wild West

                           

     Tonight's matchup is an important one for the boys in burgundy and blue, as they take on division rivals in the Nashville Predators.

If the Avs want to keep any hope alive for a wildcard spot, this looks to be a must-win for them. They're currently sitting near the bottom of the standings with a puny 24 points in hand. Getting our ass handed to us by Winnipeg didn't make matters any easier.

To be fair, last game was just about as entertaining and fiery an Avs game gets without entering the Red Wings rivalry era. To make matters worse, Varlamov tweaked his groin YET AGAIN.

Calvin Pickard to the rescue.

With an injury riddled lineup, this game has disaster written all over it. Then again, this could be the makings of something great. Could go either way.

The Avs have shown positive trends, despite losing so many 1-goal games. Their Corsi rating has improved to hovering around 50% (Minus the Islanders anomaly), which is actually pretty good. Not to mention the improved defensive presence for the most part around the net and on the PK. Roy's man-to-man system will pay dividends for when Stuart returns, or hopefully Duncan Siemens gets a call.

Tonight's lineup is odd looking. Dressing 19 men, there looks to be a 3 line rotation with Carey and Holden acting as floaters.

                    O'Reilly - Duchene - Tanguay
              Landeskog - Mackinnon - Iginla
                   McCleod - Talbot - Briere
                           Carey - Holden

                              Hejda - Johnson
                            Guenin - Barrie
                           Stollery - Redmond

                             Pickard - Berra

*Don't expect these lines to stick

Depending on how well this game goes for Pickard, that might slightly dictate what management does moving forward. When Berra let that flub of a goal in against the Jets, it spoke volumes about the season up until this point, especially for his performances. He can't be trusted between the pipes, and you can see it in the way the team plays around him. When Pickard is in net, you can tell the guys have faith in him. If some of our guys are as close to returning as they say, making a move soon for a solid top 2 defender may be imminent. There's still close to 50 games left to be played, and a hell of a lot of ground to make up. Tonight is a true test of their mettle.

Prediction: Avs treat us with a 4-2 win. Keep an eye out for the MacKinnon/Jones matchup.

By: Brian