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I sure hope so, because if they don't get it done this year, it gets exponentially harder. The entire 2nd line is UFA after this season, as is the starting goalie, and MacKinnon's discount deal expires the year after.

They've got a lot of momentum and are very deep. I'll be rooting for them. It would be nice to see MacKinnon, Landy, Rantanen and the boys find the glory. They've certainly earned it.

Here's to hoping. The depth appears to be rounding into form with Kadri and Murray skating again, Girard back in the lineup, that one guy I will not mention in fear that I will jinx him back in the lineup, and the deadline acquisitions settling in relatively well.

Two games in Canada back-to-back end in OT/SO, first against the Jets and then again in Edmonton. Both wins. Avs didn't play especially well, but that's fine. Darcy Kuemper was amazing in the shootout win, stopping close to 50 shots to secure the victory.

First game back for Sammy G, who was paired most of the night with Bo Byram. Bednar has said he wanted G to be paired with Manson, but I assume he wants G to get a game or two in before going with him for big minutes. Manson struggled a little with the speed of the Oilers, which has become a bit of a theme. Against the big, physical clubs he was brought on to play against, he excels. Against faster rosters, he gets turnstiled a few times every night.

Erik Johnson was a healthy scratch for what had to be the first time in his professional career. If you had told me back in October he would be one of only two Avs players to play in every game this season I'd have told you to get stuffed. A grand irony that the single most injury prone player on one of the most injury prone teams in the league would stay healthy all season.

Avs don't play again until WEDNESDAY (what the fuck is this schedule) when they take on the plummeting Kings.

Yowzer....playoff tickets are released and they are expensive! Thank goodness I have reclining seats, cold beer, a goal horn, a large TV and a short pisser line at home!

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A Los Angeles Kings team decimated by injuries and exhausted from playing three games in four nights showed up to Ball Arena last night, and it turned out as bad for them as one might think. This was about the only game I would've been somewhat okay with the Avs dropping since...y'know...FUCK VEGAS, but alas, this one was over in a hurry.

Avs kinda fell asleep after getting out to an easy 4-0 lead, let it get to 4-2 before breaking it wide open again and ending the game 9-3. Danault scored the Kings' third goal in garbage time and Cogliano slammed his stick against the post in frustration--I like that kind of attitude.

Super-scary moment when Matt Roy slammed Bowen Byram into the boards, but Bo finished the game none the worse for wear, so that's good.

Hat trick for Nathan MacKinnon, two goals each for Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Valeri Nichushkin.

Cale Makar with a 1-3-4 night, giving him 26 goals and 81 points.

The Kings already don't have a good penalty kill, but against the Avs its positively helpless. Neither LA goalie was particularly good, especially "goalie of the future" Cal Petersen, who came in after Quick gave up three and let in another on the very first shot he faced.

Tonight it'll be the Avs who have to play back-to-back, the Devils come into town. Avs suffered their worst loss of the season against NJ earlier, we'll see if they avenge that one. Like the

I am fully expecting Mikko Rantanen to play like absolute shit and still put up a couple assists.

Don't look now...but Bo Byram is a stud......IF he stays healthy he's a #2 behind Makar and that's not a slight on Toews. Embarrassment of riches!

Sam Girard is where he belongs on the 3rd pairing with Manson. May take Manson a while to realize he has to stay home while Girard marches around playing offence. That Pairing was a -2 last night in a 9-3 game.

That's a brief slight on what looks like a dominant team going into the playoffs. No Kadri, No Landeskog.....no Problem!

IMO This team is even better than the 2001 roster in terms of talent and dominance.

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Not to be nitpicky but Sammy was a minus-1, Manson was minus-2. I believe the 2nd goal was when he was out there with Byram. The 4th line of Cogliano-Helm-O'Connor struggled defensively as a whole, two of them also ended up minus-2.

Bo was technically on the 3rd pairing for most of the night with Erik Johnson, but he and Sammy we ice time leaders mainly because Bednar wanted to sit his stars as much as possible once the blowout was underway. I'm pretty sure Nathan MacKinnon didn't take another shift after he got the hat trick.

But yes, I believe Bo is projected to be the top pairing LD alongside Cale, which would be amazing because that would bump Toews down to the 2nd pairing with Girard, which was a phenomenal duo last season. Manson at this point is pretty much a third pairing guy, I don't believe the Avs will bring him or Sturm back next season, both just scream "rental." The idea was to pair Manson with Girard for the playoffs, I have my doubts though, Manson hasn't really wowed me so far.

Forgot to mention the Avs have now set a franchise record for wins in a season prior to tonight’s contest.

3-1 win tonight. Not an especially exciting affair and the Avs were definitely tired, but they get the win regardless. The Hamburglar actually played really well in goal for them.

BTW is Artturi Lehkonen always that cranky during interviews? He was interviewed at the 2nd intermission by Rachel Richlinski and didn’t seem enthusiastic at all about it, he was named first star of the game and they either skipped over him for the postgame or he just declined it, they went for the third star instead, the more genial Pavel Francouz.

Had a goal and assist tonight and has been awesome so far, so I couldn’t care less about his interview demeanor, but I found it funny nonetheless.

Avs take care of business at home against the Bunch of Jerks. First contest earlier this season was a 2-0 loss by the Avs, one of the goals was an empty-netter. This time the scoring came in bunches in a 7-4 final.

They actually WERE kinda jerks near the end of this one. Cale Makar laid a clean lick on Jordan Staal, who was wobbly getting up. Sebastian Aho didn't take kindly to it and had a few words, and on the next shift the two of them had together he took a run at Makar. Bednar very quickly pulled #8 out of the game for the remainder after that.

Best game of the year for J.T. Compher (2 goals) and Andre Burakovsky. Avs managed to score two against the league's best penalty kill, and with their 2nd unit both times.

Bednar says Toews is getting the next four games off. Hopefully just a maintenance thing. The fact he put a number on it makes me think that's the case.

Also, no surprise since it's the Washington Capitals, Kurtis MacDermid will play tonight.

Ben Meyers, NCAA FA signee from Minnesota, scored in his NHL debut, and he gets another game. Looks like it'll be Andrew Cogliano sitting, with Darren Helm rotating back in.

First loss in a while, 3-2 against the Caps, who sweep the season series. They should consider themselves lucky they caught the Avs shorthanded both times.

Anyway, Avs still made a game of it despite it not being their best effort and obviously struggling without Devon Toews in the lineup. Jack Johnson took his place on the top pairing and...was a complete disaster. Two horrid turnovers for two goals against, and also way too slow to react on the penalty kill to tie up a stick that led to Ovechkin's eventual goal. Bednar put more of the blame on Logan O'Connor on two of those goals but...nah, that was all Jack. Seems like a good guy who's doing his best, but I really do hope he's gone next season.

And while I still believe that goons do NOTHING to "deter" violence whatsoever (they escalate it, and last night was no different), it was fun as hell to watch Tom Wilson get dumped on his ass multiple times by Kurtis MacDermid. MacDermid also knocked around the guy who might actually be a lot more dangerous than Wilson--Garnet Hathaway, who went out of his way to take runs at multiple Avs players, including Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

Anyway, didn't care about the result--Avs are clearly in "Let's just stay healthy" mode--just didn't want any lingering injuries. Couple scary moments with Josh Manson and MacKinnon, but they both finished the game.

The race for the Prez is gonna come down to the wire it looks like. Check out these identical records, both teams have been insanely hot down the stretch.

Guessing the Avs will lose out as they're prioritizing health at this point. Best in the West is good enough for them, if they get the President's, great, but I don't think it's their primary regular season goal.

I don't think the Cats are going to let up. Huberdeau has an Art Ross to win and it would mean a lot to the long-suffering franchise to win the Prez, especially since there are no guarantees they even make the second round in the tough Atlantic.

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The Road Trip From Hell has concluded, Avs fail to pick up a single point and frankly didn't look all that good in any of these games. Longest losing streak of the season at 4 games.

Sitting Devon Toews so he can heal up a bit hurt them immensely, but losing Mikko Rantanen to illness has been DEVASTATING. With him gone, the power play went to complete shit, and frankly he's been their best forward all season. Yes, even better than Nazem Kadri. Whatever it was, it got him so laid up he headed back to Denver before the rest of the team. He's skating again but probably will miss another game.

Anyway...it's a grand hope they get everyone back for the playoffs and there's not a ton of rust to shake off because this has been kinda tough to watch. Anxiety is quite high despite the fact I keep telling myself these games don't matter.

Avs finally get back on track back home against the red-hot St. Louis Blues, 5-3 victory.

Made it way more interesting than they should have but played well for the most part. Only concerns were Burakovsky continuing to do his best Stormtrooper impression--when he's not feeling confident he just turns the puck over and/or wings the puck anywhere but at the net. Brutal to watch him on the power play.

Kadri is still a work in progress but is improving as he works the rust off.

Never a bad night when the thin-skinned Jordan Binnington is ventilated. Goals from five different Avs last night. PK was good for the most part (one goal given up) but the power play desperately needs both Landeskog and Rantanen back.

Now a back-to-back that I'm absolutely dreading against the Preds and Wylde. Both teams love to goon it up so guaranteed that MacDermid will play in both contests. While the Avs still have a shot at the Prez, I'm just hoping for no injuries against these two meathead clubs.

So...the Avs still have something to play for, They are two points back of the Florida Panthros in the race for the Presidents' Trophy with two games remaining for each. Unfortunately it's a back-to-back against two teams who just looooooooooooooooooove to goon it up to finish this off.

First off, a matchup against the Preds and face puncher extraordinaire Michael McCarron. Kuemper gets the start tonight, and Frankie gets the nod tomorrow against Minnesota.

Again, if they lose, fine, just PLEASE make it through this relatively healthy.

Mikko Rantanen, after battling what appears to have been a nasty case of norovirus, is back in the lineup. Alex Newhook gets the night off.

No word on whether or not MacDermid is playing either of these games but I'd certainly put him in, especially with McCarron and Deslauriers facing off against Colorado the next two nights.

Well, the regular season unofficially ends with Game Eighty-One, a very disappointing shootout loss to the Nashville Predators. Jared Bednar didn't hesitate to point at the primary reason for the loss--Darcy Kuemper played like total horseshit and let in at least three questionable goals. I think even the fourth one, a power play goal scored by Roman Josi, was also not good.

Avs played great for two periods and then kinda meh for the third, but I was quite annoyed at the fact they got five power plays, four of them pretty much consecutively, and didn't capitalize. The first goal of the game was scored on the power play by Makar right off the faceoff and then absolutely nothing after that. Kuemper got horribly outplayed by one of my least favorite goalies in the league, Big Save Dave Rittich. Rittich himself had some downright comical moments, like literally running into the post to catch a puck that had bounced off the glass behind the net, but kept it pretty locked down. Rough outing from a lot of the top six forwards, the bottom six did most of the damage.

With the Presidents' Trophy officially out of reach, the Avs will be headed to Minnesota for the final game of the regular season with a skeleton crew. Kuemper is already set to stay in Denver, Justus Annunen and Jacob MacDonald will be making the trip out, so more guys are likely going to sit. I'd REALLY like for them to sit Bowen Byram, especially against a goonish team like the Wylde.

The one juicy tidbit about tonight's finale is if Ben Meyers plays. He publicly spurned his hometown team in favor of their arch rivals, so I imagine the welcoming he'll receive, if indeed he plays, will not be kind. I'm guessing he wants this game, but we'll see.

The last month of this season feels like it took a fucking decade. Have not loved the play of the Avs in this final stretch, but I also realize that they're pretty much resting guys and are more or less just waiting for the postseason to start.

Avs sign former Blue Jacket Lukas Sedlak to a one-year deal. Has spent the last two seasons in the KHL.

Seriously, McFarland loooooooooooooooves his Lumbus guys.

Looks like a decent defensive center who wins faceoffs, so there's your 4th line pivot. Which also tells me the Avs are for sure not bringing back Nico Sturm (there was almost no chance of that happening anyhow). The Avs now have 1st (MacKinnon), 3rd (Meyers possibly) and 4th (Sedlak) line center all squared away for next season. They just need to figure out what to do regarding that 2nd line center spot.

I like Sedlak as a low-cost 4th line centre if you lose some players in the offseason. Surprisingly had some offensive game in the KHL but didn't even score in the AHL.

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