Feed the crowd off. The Avalanche has won its last eight games at the Pepsi Center, finishing 6-0 in the regular season and going 2-0 in Round 1 against the Calgary Flames. The Avs will play in front of a boisterous, sellout crowd, and the more they feed off the energy, the better they’ll playwith. San Jose is 1-2 on the road in the playoffs, losing twice in Las Vegas before defeating the Golden Knights in Game 6 in overtime to force a Game 7.
More of the same from MGM gang. Mikko Rantanen might again start the game as the right winger on the second line, but because the Avs have last shift as the home team, expect him to play frequently with fellow all-star forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog. Rantanen and MacKinnon are riding six-game point streaks, the first Avs to do that because Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic in 2004. The stripes are tied with Columbus forward Artemi Panarin as the longest playoff runs that were active.
Power up. The Avs began the playoffs 0-of-8 on the power play but are 6-of-22 since (27.3 percent), and if they can continue to score at the rate with the man advantage, they’ll be in amazing shape. MacKinnon has done most of his offensive damage on the power play; he leads the NHL with six power-play points (two goals) from the playoffs. And Tyson Barrie has six points with the man advantage, tying him for first in the league. MacKinnon and Barrie headline the first power-play unit, but the second now includes rookie sensation Cale Makar. San Jose’s road power play has struggled (1-of-9, 11.1 percent) compared to what it has done at home (8-of-29, 27.6).
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