Tonight begins an epic three-hour battle for the Playoffs, as the perpetual underdog Arizona Coyotes face a three-game gladiator match for playoff supremacy.
Or, if not supremacy, at least inclusion.
The Coyotes will kick off their big week with a game against the Blackhawks tonight, then follow it up later in the week with games against Minnesota and Colorado.
The Hawks are five points out, and the Coyotes are only two points back of the Avalanche for the final seed. The Wild , who lost last night 1-0 to the Predators, are tied with the Coyotes. Dallas is only three points up on Colorado.
The Blackhawks have one extra game to play than the Coyotes, Dallas and Avalanche, while the Wild have one less.
It's getting intense.
In other news, Antti Raanta is about to begin practicing.
Hearing that Coyotes goalie Antti Raanta will begin practicing with the team this week. Raanta has been out since sustaining a knee injury on Nov. 27 at Minnesota.
— Craig Morgan (@craigsmorgan) March 26, 2019
While this is good news, at this point you can't really take the net from Kuemper who has been Vezina worthy since Raanta went down.
Kuemper, obviously, will get the start tonight.