Feed off the crowd. The Avalanche has won its last eight games at the , finishing 6-0 in the regular season and going 2-0 in Round 1 against the . The Avs will again play in front of a boisterous, sellout crowd, and the more they feed off the energy, the better they’ll play. 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. might again begin the game as the right winger on the second line, but because the Avs have last change as the home team, expect him to play often with fellow all-star forwards and . Rantanen and MacKinnon are riding six-game point streaks, the first Avs to do that since Peter Forsberg and in 2004. The streaks are tied with Columbus forward Artemi Panarin as the longest active playoff runs.
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 that rate with the man advantage, they’ll be in great shape. MacKinnon has done most of his offensive damage on the power play; he leads the NHL with six power-play points (two goals) in 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 . 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).
