Example: AVS Visit Naz Kadri and the flames in Calgary

Colorado Avalanche continues their road trip before the four nations break with a showdown with the former Avalanche Nazem Kadri and Calgary Flames tonight at Scotiabank Saddledome. Can AVS come back in the victory column, or do the flames play spoiler?

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado’s loss to Vancouver was frustrating, but the scoring line wasn’t so to tell about the game’s power. Like Colorado’s first period against Flyers last week, Avalanche played well, but couldn’t put the puck in the net. The Vancouver game contained the red positions all too often and saved Canucks out if you asked me. The non-smell sanctions from Miles Wood certainly didn’t help, but let’s remember that slipper was plenty of dangerous on Tuesday.

I stand by everything that has been said in the last paragraph but makes no mistake: posts do not win games, and two points and victory is all that matters in a window with games that Jared Bednar has placed, we are treating as “Playoff play.” Let’s see how Avalanche responds to a Calgary team that is -16 and ranked 23. In target differential this season.

Projected lineup:

Artturi lehkonen – Nathan Mackinnon – Martin Necas
Jonathan Drouin – Casey Mittelstadt – Juuso Parsinen
Miles wood – Jack Drury – Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta – Parks Kelly – Logan O’Connor

Devon toews – Cale Makar
Samuel Girard – Josh Manson
Keaton Middleton – Sam Malinski

Note: Josh Manson is listed as a “game-time decision” via the Daily Faceoff.

Calgary flames

The flames are fighting for a wild card and playoff position with Colorado’s last opponent, Canucks. Colorado has the WC1 position with a five-point lead in Calgary and Vancouver. The disturbing part is that both clubs have two games in hand on Colorado. The last thing where Avalanche wants to do is slip into that WC2 and make this a real competition for playoff position.

Keep an eye on the old friend Nazem Kadri, who plays excellent hockey with his linemates Jonathan Huberdeau and Joel Farabee. Kadri sets only two goals that are shy for 20 on the season, and getting to this brand would mean doing so each season since his breakout campaign with Colorado in 2021-22.

Projected lineup:

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Joel Farabee
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Morgan Frost – Martin Pospisil
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Adam Klapka

Joel Hanley – Rasmus Andersson
Mackenzie Weegar – Daniil Miromanov
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal

Goals

Mackenzie Blackwood is likely to be net again and Dustin Wolf will be the confirmed starter for Calgary. That’s safe to say, with only two more games before the break, it’s okay to give Mackenzie a start after the start on the way out, especially considering how well he has worked in Colorado.