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The Colorado Avalanche were the biggest surprise of the NHLs regular season. Yoenis Cespedes Jersey . The Central Division champions now hope to carry their shocking success into the playoffs, as the Avalanche welcome the Minnesota Wild to Pepsi Center for Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. Watch the game live on TSN and TSN GO at 9:30pm et/6:30pm pt. Colorado not only made the playoffs for the first time since 2010, the club also earned its first division title since 2002-03. Winning the Central was no small feat, as the Avs finished ahead of an excellent St. Louis Blues team and also the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Avs figured to be a team on the upswing after landing talented center Nathan MacKinnon with the top overall pick of the 2013 draft and hiring former goaltender great Patrick Roy as their head coach. But an outstanding season by netminder Semyon Varlamov expedited the process and his Vezina Trophy-worthy season -- as well as a late collapse by the Blues -- helped the Avs take the division, setting up this first-round matchup against the Wild, who claimed the first of the Wests two wild card spots. Varlamov led the NHL with 41 victories, breaking Roys single-season franchise mark set in 2000-01. He also surpassed his head coach for the most home victories by an Avalanche goaltender in a season with 24. All will be for naught though if Varlamovs postseason debut with Colorado goes sour. He has not played a playoff game since 2010 with the Washington Capitals and in 19 total games of postseason experience, the Russian is 10-9 with a 2.49 goals against average and .915 save percentage. There may be some additional pressure on Varlamov and the defense as forward Matt Duchene may miss the entire series with a bruised knee suffered on March 29. Duchene still led the Avs with 47 assists and 70 points, but Colorado did manage to go 5-1-2 down the stretch without him. The Avalanche snapped a three-year playoff drought by matching a franchise record with 52 victories and setting another mark with 26 road wins. Their 112 points were good for second-most in the clubs single-season history. Minnesota is in the playoffs for the second straight season, making the club 2-for-2 in postseason appearances since it broke the bank to sign both forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter in the summer of 2012. The Wild snapped a four-year postseason drought by earning the eighth seed a season ago, only to fall in five games to the Chicago Blackhawks. This season, Minnesota racked up impressive totals of 43 wins and 98 points -- a 17-point improvement from the full 2011-12 campaign. The usual suspects came through as Jason Pominville, Parise, Mikko Koivu and Suter were Minnesotas top four scorers. The Wild had four goaltenders make at least 10 starts this season, but Ilya Bryzgalov is the No. 1 option heading into the playoffs. Bryzgalov was acquired from Edmonton at the trade deadline and the Russian veteran went 7-1-3 with a 2.12 goals against average and .911 save percentage in 12 games with Minnesota. Bryzgalov has appeared in 38 postseason games, though his numbers arent great. He is 17-19 with a 2.81 GAA and .908 save percentage. The Avalanche got a point in all five of their meetings with the Wild this season, going 4-0-1. Varlamov was 3-0-1 with a 2.16 GAA in four games, while Bryzgalov did not face the Avalanche since joining the Wild. The Russian has, however, won all four of his previous playoff games against them, posting a 0.94 GAA and two shutouts while with the Anaheim Ducks back in 2006. This is the third all-time playoff meeting between the clubs. The Wild won a 2003 conference quarterfinals matchup in seven games, while the Avalanche knocked off Minnesota in six games during the same round in 2008. Colorado also will host Game 2 of this best-of-seven series on Saturday. The Avs were 26-11-4 on home ice in 2013-14, while Minnesota was just 17-17-7 on the road. New York Mets Jerseys .Best moustache: How can we not give this to Lanny McDonald? Check out the duster for yourself. Mike Piazza Jersey . James Harden wasnt worried and told his coach as much. "He was fired up but I told him: Its OK. Were going to be all right," Harden said. And they were. Houston scored 17 straight points after that timeout, led by 10 from Harden, to take the lead and roll to an easy 129-106 win. http://www.metsbaseballauthentic.com/steven-matz-mets-jersey/ . Pospisil, the seventh seed, saved match points in each of the last two sets before falling to the unseeded Dutchman. "I wasnt very happy with the way I was playing,"said Pospisil.SAN FRANCISCO -- Now that he has a stock tied to his football career, San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis is thinking more like a CEO looking out for his shareholders interests, as well as for himself. Thats among the reasons why Davis wants the 49ers to pay him more money even though he still has two years still left on his current contract. The deal, originally signed in 2010, calls for him to make about $10 million through the National Football Leagues 2015 season. "I feel like its the right time to get an extension," Davis said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press. His remarks came shortly before the 49ers announced they had given their star quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, a six-year contract extension through the 2020 season for a reported $110 million. If Davis secures a longer contract too, it will be a boon for investors who bought a stake in his football career through an unusual tracking stock from Fantex Inc. The San Francisco company paid Davis $4 million in return for 10 per cent of his future earnings from football, commercial endorsements and other jobs that he may get during the remainder of his life because of his success in sports. Investors who own any of the 421,000 shares of Fantex tracking stock tied to Davis will also benefit from his success through dividends and potential appreciation in the stocks price. Davis tracking stock climbed $1.20 Wednesday to $11.20, slightly above its initial public offering price of $10. The shares have traded as high as $12.50 since their debut on Fantexs online exchange in late April. The IPO minted Davis, an eight-year veteran of the 49ers, as the first professional athlete to be traded like a stock. Noah Syndergaard Jersey. "Everyone loves me right now," Davis said. "They just want to talk to me. They want to hug me. ...You get a lot of people who say, Ive got stock in you." Although Fantex completed the IPO of the tracking stock five weeks ago, U.S. securities regulations prohibited Davis from publicly discussing the investment until Wednesday. Not long after he was able to talk about the stock, Davis said he fielded calls from 49er teammates Justin Smith, Vance McDonald and C.J. Spillman inquiring about his arrangement with Fantex. For now, business comes before football for Davis, who is considered to be among the best tight ends in the game. He caught a career-best 13 touchdowns last season. But Davis, 30, already has played nearly three times longer than the average NFL career of three seasons. He said he wants to play "until my toes fall off" and hopes to spend his entire career with the 49ers. The big question now is whether the 49ers will acquiesce to his demands for a longer contract. As part of his negotiating tactics, Davis skipped the 49ers voluntary team workouts this week. His absence cost him a $200,000 bonus. Davis will be aiming to make that money back in his contract extension, although he declined to say how much he is seeking. In an appraisal made leading up to the IPO, Fantex predicted Davis would land at least one more football contract worth $33 million. While Davis negotiates with the 49ers, Fantex is trying to sell tracking stocks tied to the careers of two other NFL players: Buffalo Bills quarterback EJ Manuel and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '