A year ago Josh Allen Youth Jersey , a game with as much meaning as the one Saturday night at Pepsi Center would have seemed improbable.
After how the 2016-17 campaign went for the Avalanche, fighting for a postseason berth seemed years away, not a year away
But the improbable has become reality has become in essence a Game 7 to make the playoffs for the Avalanche.
The Avalanche (42-30-9) can erase the taste of a 48-point season with a win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
The game will decide who earns the second wild card in the Western Conference and a first-round date with the President Trophy winners, the Nashville Predators.
“It will be fun,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said after Thursday’s 4-2 loss in San Jose. “I’m not surprised it comes down to Game 82 this year. Pepsi Center will be buzzing and so will we.”
Colorado had a chance to clinch the playoffs on its three-game swing through California but went 0-2-1. The Avalanche blew a two-goal, third-period lead in Anaheim on Sunday and lost in overtime Darius Leonard Youth Jersey , and then couldn’t keep up with Los Angeles or San Jose in the next two games.
The Blues also could have made Saturday’s game a warmup for the postseason. They surged back into the playoff picture by winning eight of nine at the end of March but followed that with a four-game losing streak that knocked them down in the standings
The last loss was a soul-crushing one Wednesday against Chicago. St. Louis led 3-1 at home at one point but the Blackhawks, playing out the string, tied it in the third and won it with a power-play goal with 8.5 seconds left in regulation.
If the Blues had hung on for those 8.5 seconds and get to overtime, they would have earned at least a point. They avenged that loss with a 4-1 win in Chicago on Friday night.
It was the first time in 15 games goaltender Jake Allen didn’t start, giving way to backup Carter Hutton. He made 19 saves for the Blues (44-31-6), who jumped over Colorado into the second wild card with 94 points and set up Saturday’s showdown.
St. Louis has a slight advantage over the Avalanche heading into the season finale. The Blues only need to avoid a loss in regulation to hold onto the second wild card. If the two teams end up with the same amount of points St. Louis holds the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series.
A Colorado win in regulation will give it 95 points and the playoff date with Nashville.
St. Louis coach Mike Yeo’s gamble of playing Hutton in Friday’s game paid off. He wanted to rest Allen and have him at his best Jarvis Landry Jersey Elite , so he sent the No. 1 goaltender ahead to Denver early Friday so he wouldn’t get in late like the rest of the team.
“As far as Jake goes, I think this is a much-needed break for him,” Yeo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s been an awful long time since he’s had two days between a game. He’s played an awful lot of hockey and so it gives him a chance to really collect some much-needed rest and get ready for (Saturday).”
The NFL has fined former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson $2.75 million following its investigation into sexual and racial misconduct in the workplace.The league said Thursday the investigation conducted by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White substantiated the allegations against Richardson, that the improper conduct was limited to him and that the team and its ownership failed to report the allegations or any resolution agreements to the league.
The league also said most of the money will go toward organizations that address racial- and gender-based issues in and outside the workplace.
Richardson put the team up for sale after a Sports Illustrated report in December that Richardson made sexually suggestive comments to women and on at least one occasion directed a racial slur at an African-American Panthers scout. The report also stated that the settlements came with non-disclosure requirements forbidding the parties from discussing the details.
Richardson has an agreement to sell the Panthers for a league-record $2.2 billion to hedge fund president and owner David Tepper. The league owners unanimously approved the sale last month, and NFL officials said the sale is expected to close in the next two weeks. Tepper is a former minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coach Ron Rivera declined to comment Thursday on Richardson’s fine when reached by The Associated Press. General manager Marty Hurney did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
White, who was appointed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as the independent investigator Cheap Shaquem Griffin Jersey , said her findings and recommendations are the product of a review that included interviews with team executives, former and current employees, document analysis and electronic records.
White states that the Panthers’ anti-harassment and discrimination policy should help prevent a recurrence, and she and Goodell recommend the team report on its internal policies and procedures that address racial discrimination and sexual harassment claims, as well as related workplace issues, by the end of the year.
She also recommended the league prohibit non-disclosure agreements to limit the reporting of potential violations or cooperation with league investigations Dan Bailey Cowboys Jersey , require workplace misconduct claims to be reported to the league office, establish a confidential hotline for league and team employees to report workplace conduct issues and review policies and procedures with owners, team counsel and human resource executives.
The NFL said the recommendations will be presented to the league’s Conduct Committee before the coming season.
NFL officials have said they didn’t know about the allegations against Richardson until Dec. 15, the same day the Panthers issued a stunning news release first announcing its own investigation of Richardson’s alleged workplace misconduct. That was followed two days later by the Sports Illustrated report that detailed Richardson’s alleged misconduct and also by the announcement that Richardson would sell the team he founded.
The Panthers also promoted Tina Becker to chief operating officer in the wake of the investigation.
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AP Sports Writer Steve Reed contributed to this report.
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