The Avs have by far the easiest schedule to close out the season.
And we are red hot for some stupid reason (thanks Giggy) right now.
The Devils are 5 points ahead and have lost 10 !!! straight.
Nashville is only 3 points ahead and they have lost every single tiny bit of scoring prowess either to a trade (Erat) or to an injury (Wilson, Hornqvist...). There is no way they stay ahead of us. They also have more games played than we do.
TBL are only 2 points ahead.
Calgary is a better AHL team right now, Florida is already 3 points behind and Carolina are 2-8-0 in their last 10 and they really blow beyond belief without Ward and with Faulk injured.
I just don't see how we pick anybetter than 5th.
You're being way to pessimistic about it. We only have 5 games left. We realistically at worst/best go 3-1-1 in those 5 games. That's an additional 7 points.
NJD Only need to go 1-4-1 in those final 6 and they're ahead of us.
NSH could go 2-2 or even 1-1-2 and still be ahead of us.
TBL is .500 in there last 10. 2 Pts ahead and a game in hand. a 3-3 record for them, and they finish ahead of us.
Carolina has sucked, but they are still a point ahead of us, with 2 games in hand.
The Avs would have to go on a very, very good run down the stretch, and these teams would all have to really play some atrocious hockey in order for us to beat them.
Were still in great position for a Top 4 pick. Top 3 is becoming a little sketchy(Though still very much possible, even #1 is still possible) but a Top 4 we should get. And Barkov will be a great addition to our offense.
As for the game. Barrie and Elliott are going to be great players for us. Hejda deserves a tonne of credit for what he has done to those 2 and there levels of play. He himself has been fantastic defensively for us this year.
Very underrated, I would say he has played like a #3 for us this year, rather then the #4/5 he was playing like last year. Awesome turn around for the guy.