The Denver Nuggets have won five of their last eight with losses to the Thunder, the Lakers and the Grizzlies. On Sunday night the Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers at home and the Toronto Raptors on Friday night both by significant margins.
Both Jokic and Murray both had 22 points in Denver’s win Sunday night with Cam Johnson adding 19 more while Christian Braun added 15 points and 6 rebounds.
Denver has now moved into the number five spot in the Western Conference just ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Nuggets are in Phoenix this week to face the Suns before returning home to host the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors this week.
Seven of Denver’s last ten games are at home while they intend to travel to Phoenix, Utah and San Antonio with the Spurs being the last game of the season. Denver has a chance to move into the number four spot over the Houston Rockets but would need to win out in order to catch the L.A. Lakers who are sitting at number three, seven games behind the San Antonio Spurs.
The Colorado Avalanche have lost three of their last five with wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and the Washington Capitals. Colorado’s recent win over the Capitals was taken to overtime in our nations capital on Sunday night.
This week the Avs are in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins, and the Winnipeg Jets before returning home to host the Jets, the Calgary Flames, the Vancouver Canucks and then head to Dallas to face the Stars.
Colorado holds a five-point lead over the Stars with fourteen games left. They still hold the top spot in the Western Conference becoming the first team to 100 points and the first team to clench a playoff berth.
The Denver University Pioneers defeated the Minnesota Duluth in double-overtime in the Frozen Faceoff Championship to win the NCHC Championship. DU goalie Johnny Hicks stood on his head with 41 saves. Hicks has been DU’s saving grace this season after the Pioneers were shutout in an embarrassing loss at home to Western Michigan at the start of the year.
This Friday the number two seeded Pioneers will face the number three seeded Cornell University in the first round of the national tournament. This is their third tournament meeting with both teams holding a win over the other. Denver is 8-6-0 all-time over Cornell.
This is the Pioneers 35th appearance in the national tournament and has reached the NCAA Frozen Four three of the past four seasons. Friday’s game will be televised on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. MST at Blue Arena in Loveland Colorado.
