from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

Anybody who watched the fireworks in Tampa Bay’s 4-3 overtime victory against Colorado Monday night at the Pepsi Center could see the Avs don’t have a goaltender who can carry them to a championship. While Philipp Grubauer (currently injured) and Pavel Francouz are competent pros, either man would rank closer to the bottom than the top in a ranking of netminders in this year’s postseason field.

And this is gonna hurt: Mikko Rantanen will be out for multiple weeks after taking a nasty fall into the boards during the second period, with what appeared to be a serious injury to his collarbone or shoulder.

The pressure is now on Sakic to make a deal that can keep the Avs in contention for a top playoff seed in the highly competitive Western Conference.

With seats in the arena reserved for scouts from Montreal, Los Angeles and Detroit, all teams that figure to be sellers at the deadline, I dreamed of the Avs adding a goaltender. But with a salary cap hit in excess of $10 million from now until the middle of this decade, 32-year-old Canadiens goalie Carey Price falls well beyond a reasonable price range for Sakic or any other general manager of a contending team.

So if Henrik Lundqvist isn’t walking through those doors in the Avalanche dressing room any time soon, it appears Colorado will have to run and gun its way through the playoff bracket.

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