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Avalanche look to hang on to eighth spot in West

Mar 22, 2008 - 1:29 PM Colorado (39-30-6) at Edmonton (37-33-5) 10:00 pm EDT

EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) - The Colorado Avalanche are in a nice position right now, but a few more points would certainly make them feel a lot better.

The Avalanche will look to improve their playoff positioning when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

With 84 points this season, Colorado is currently four points ahead of the Nashville Predators (36-31-8) for the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference playoff picture.

Lately, however, the Avalanche have not been playing like a team that expects to go far into May. The club has dropped three straight, totaling just four goals in the process.

The skid has dropped them out of the lead in the Northwest Division, and the third seed into the playoffs that would likely come with a first-place finish.

The Oilers, on the other hand, have been playing some of the best hockey in the NHL, winning 10 of their past 13 games to pull within five points of the Avalanche in the race for a playoff berth.

With Edmonton's recent run, which may have come a bit too late, the five teams in the Northwest Division are separated by a total of eight points.

The Avalanche have dominated the season series thus far, winning five of the first six matchups, including a 5-1 thrashing on March 13.