With nothing to play for other than having to finish out the regular-season schedule, the Avalanche and Dallas Stars face off Saturday at American Airlines Center.
It's been a rough season for both teams, but as poorly as the Stars have played, they have 77 points heading into their finale -- 30 more than the Avalanche.
Here are the
GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche might not have a 20-goal scorer for the first time in their 21 seasons in Denver, not counting the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when
P.A. Parenteau led the team with 18 goals in 48 games.
Matt Duchene and
Mikko Rantanen each have 18 this season, and Rantanen is questionable with the lower-body injury that has caused him to miss the past two games.
Gabriel Landeskog has 17 goals,
Nathan MacKinnon 16.
Colorado is 9-29-1 on the road and has lost 10 consecutive road games since a 2-1 overtime win against Carolina on Feb. 17.
Jeremy Smith starts in goal for the Avalanche.
The probable lineup:
FORWARDS
Sven Andrighetto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Rene Bourque
Matt Nieto -- J.T. Compher -- Matt Duchene
Gabriel Landeskog -- Tyson Jost -- Rocco Grimaldi
Mikhail Grigorenko -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
DEFENSE
Mark Barberio -- Erik Johnson
Francois Beauchemin -- Tyson Barrie
Duncan Siemens -- Anton Lindholm
GOALIES
Jeremy Smith
Calvin Pickard
*****
Avalanche draft pick and Hobey Baker Award-winning defenseman
Will Butcher has a chance for more hardware Saturday when the University of Denver plays Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA championship game at the United Center in Chicago.
Both teams are from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
The top-ranked Pioneers (32-7-4) defeated Notre Dame 6-1 on Thursday, their 17th win in the past 18 games. The No. 2 Bulldogs (28-6-7) defeated Harvard 2-1.
Butcher, 22, was the Avalanche's fifth-round pick (No. 123) in the 2013 NHL draft. He's the second Pioneer to win the national player of the year award;
Matt Carle won it in 2006.
The 5-feet-10, 190-pound Butcher is DU’s fourth-leading scorer with 37 points (seven goals, 30 assists) in 42 games. He has a plus-27 rating.
The Avalanche have until Aug. 15 to sign Butcher or he would become an unrestricted free agent.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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