Arena: Pepsi Arena
Time: 22 January, 2010 at 9:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: Nashville 6-4-0; Colorado 7-3-0
The Western Conference is chock full of success stories this season if the Stanley Cup Playoffs began Friday, half of its participants would be teams that failed to qualify a season ago. That includes both the Avalanche and Predators, who have 62 and 61 points, respectively. While there’s a lot of season left, it’s entirely in the realm of the possibilities that this could be a first-round matchup. The Avalanche have played just 21 games this season at home, the fewest in the League. They have a 13-6-2 mark at the Pepsi Center, where they will play 20 of their final 33 games. The Predators are tied for second in the West with 15 road wins.
Nashville forward J.P. Dumont missed Thursday’s game due to flu-like symptoms, while forward Jordin Tootoo returned to the lineup after missing five weeks with a broken foot.

Colorado captain Adam Foote (ankle), forward Marek Svatos (chest) and defenseman Ruslan Salei (back) all skated on Thursday. Foote, who last played Jan. 8, is day-to-day, as is Svatos, who missed Monday’s game. Salei has played in only one game this season. Forward Milan Hejduk is out until early February after arthroscopic knee surgery and forward David Jones is likely to miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
Third of four meetings this season. The Predators have taken the first two. They rallied for a 3-2 victory in Nashville on Oct. 8 as Patric Hornqvist scored a pair of third-period goals 2:17 apart, and won 4-3 in Colorado on Nov. 25 when David Legwand scored 3:07 into overtime. Goal’s highlights, results and more will be on site, as soon as posible.