Avs look to exorcise demons vs. Preds

Just as the Colorado Avalanche(Colorado Avalanche championship rings) are back on a roll, they'll face their toughest rival of recent years when they visit the Nashville Predators on Saturday. Colorado is just 3-15-1 against the Predators since April 2016, including a six-game loss to Nashville in the first round of last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche did earn a 3-2 victory in their previous visit to Nashville on Nov. 27, but the Predators won the other two meetings between the two clubs this season. The Avalanche will also be coming into Nashville on short rest after playing in Chicago on Friday night, though Colorado will at least have the momentum of a 5-3 win over the Blackhawks.

Since enduring a 5-16-6 stretch between Dec. 8 and Feb. 12, Colorado has now won four of its last five games to get back into the playoff race. The Avalanche are just a single point behind the Minnesota Wild for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. Colorado is 3-0-0 with 15 goals scored since the former top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen was broken up. While head coach Jared Bednar expects rivals will soon adjust to the new alignments, MacKinnon will likely continue to be shifted between lines, with Bednar describing the center as the Avalanche's "X-factor."

"It can be a tougher job to check him, especially if he's playing the way he has the last few games," Bednar recently told reporters. "He's driving offense and he's been real dangerous and dynamic. If you move a player like that around, it becomes a different animal." Though MacKinnon didn't find the scoresheet against the Blackhawks, he led all Avalanche players with six shots in the game.



With Semyon Varlamov(stanley cup rings) starting against Chicago and such a short turnaround between games, Philipp Grubauer will very likely be in net against Nashville. It would be Grubauer's first start since Feb. 5, and the backup has only amassed 32:52 of ice time in the nine games since his last start.

While the Avalanche are fighting just to reach the postseason, the Predators are battling the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central Division -- with an eye on the top seed in the entire Western Conference. Nashville currently leads Winnipeg by one point. Goalie Pekka Rinne believe this pressure will take the Predators to another level as they enter the stretch run.

"I feel like right now you can just sense more desperation from other teams, just where we're at in the season, there's 19 games left," Rinne said. "You look at the standings, it's so tight. I feel like we haven't seen our best and now it's time to do it." Rinne has been a big factor in Nashville's(championship sports rings) dominance over Colorado. The netminder has a 2.23 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in 38 career games against the Avalanche, with more wins (25) over Colorado than against any other opponent. Roman Josi has scored the game-winning goal in each of the Predators' last two games. The defenseman's two-point night in Nashville's 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday gave Josi 15 points (six goals, nine assists) over his last 11 games.