{"id":544272,"date":"2026-04-06T19:51:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544272\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T19:51:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:51:35","slug":"colorado-avalanche-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-home-ice-makar-injury-burns-milestone-and-more-the-hockey-writers-colorado-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544272\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Avalanche Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Home Ice, Makar Injury, Burns Milestone and More – The Hockey Writers – Colorado Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are the key storylines surrounding the Colorado Avalanche and their upcoming schedule for the week of April 6-13, 2026.<\/p>\n

Clinching the Western Conference<\/p>\n

The NHL-leading Avalanche took a massive step toward securing home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs after shutting out the Dallas Stars 2-0 on April 4. <\/p>\n

They currently hold a commanding eight-point lead<\/a> in the Central Division, making their official Western Conference clinch the biggest storyline of the week.<\/p>\n

Cale Makar\u2019s Injury Status<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s star defenseman missed back-to-back games<\/a> over the weekend due to an upper-body injury. His health and potential return are highly monitored topics right now, as the team needs him at 100% for a deep postseason run. He is still listed day-to-day as of Monday, April 6.<\/p>\n

Brent Burns\u2019 Historic Milestone<\/p>\n

Veteran Avalanche blueliner Brent Burns has just become only the second player in NHL history to play in 1,000 consecutive games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parker Kelly\u2019s Breakout Value<\/p>\n

Forward Parker Kelly is trending as one of the best under-the-radar stories<\/a> for the team this season. The four-year extension he signed last July is currently being hailed as a brilliant move, with his physical play expected to be vital during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

Bouncing Back Against St. Louis<\/p>\n

The Avs are coming off a tight 3-2 loss<\/a> to the St. Louis Blues on April 5, where a late Robert Thomas hat trick broke the tie. They will be looking to immediately avenge that loss when they face the Blues again to open this week\u2019s slate.<\/p>\n

Avalanche Upcoming Schedule<\/p>\n

The Avalanche have a busy four-game stretch over the next seven days, splitting their time between the road and Ball Arena. Because Colorado already holds a comfortable lead in the standings, this week\u2019s outlook is all about load management and fine-tuning. Expect the coaching staff to prioritize resting banged-up players over pushing too hard for points, particularly as they prepare for heavier, playoff-bound opponents like the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

DateOpponentLocationTime (EDT)Tuesday, April 7at St. Louis BluesEnterprise Center8:00 PMThursday, April 9vs. Calgary FlamesBall Arena9:00 PMSaturday, April 11vs. Vegas Golden KnightsBall Arena8:00 PMMonday, April 13at Edmonton OilersRogers Place9:30 PM<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are the key storylines surrounding the Colorado Avalanche and their upcoming schedule for the week of April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,1772,1116,192,144,5277,5,4,6295],"class_list":{"0":"post-544272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-brent-burns","10":"tag-cale-makar","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-avalanche","13":"tag-coloradoavalanche","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-parker-kelly"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116359512913307302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}