The Avalanche and Boston Bruins meet at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night in their final game before the NHL All-Star break.
Here are the game notes.
While the Bruins (25-16-6) have taken a six-point lead over Florida for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference -- they're one point behind Washington for the first wild card -- the Avalanche have their work cut out if they're going to make a run at a playoff spot in the West.
Colorado (19-18-10) trails Calgary by five points for the second wild-card spot with 35 games remaining. The Flames have played one fewer game and have a substantial lead in regulation and overtime wins (22-14), the category used to settle ties in the standings.
The Avalanche are coming off a 1-2-2 road trip in which they allowed more than two goals only once (not counting shootout "goals") but managed to score more than two goals just once.
Matt Duchene is undeterred.
"We're playing good hockey, playing over .500 lately, and we want to keep pushing the envelope and pushing the bar up higher," he said after an optional morning skate. "Every game's the biggest game of the year right now. We're one streak away from being right in it. We're fine, we're chucking away, but at some point we're going to have to make a push. Our home record has been good lately and we have to take care of business tonight."
The Avalanche has gone 6-2-1 in the past nine home games and have an overall 10-5-4 record since Dec. 11. They'll have to put together more runs like that the rest of the way.
The Bruins are coming off a 3-1 win Tuesday in Dallas and had a handful of players at their optional morning skate Wednesday.
Left wing Brad Marchand was one of them. He'll return to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension for slew-footing the New York Rangers' Derick Brassard in a Jan. 15 game.
Boston goalie Tuukka Rask is expected to make his sixth consecutive start. He's 4-1-0 in his past five games and 8-1-3 in his past 12. He's played well against the Avalanche with a 2.03 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in three career games yet is 0-3-0. He was outdueled by Reto Berra -- haven't written that in a while -- in a 2-1 Avalanche win Oct. 13 in Boston when Daniel Briere scored in the final second.
Semyon Varlamov will make his fourth consecutive start for the Avalanche. He's 1-2-1 in his career against Boston with a 2.12 average and .931 save percentage.
The Bruins have won six of their past seven games and have gone 10-3-5 record since Dec. 13.
Here is the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Alex Tanguay - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Nathan MacKinnon Cody McLeod - John Mitchell - Dennis Everberg Max Talbot - Marc-Andre Cliche - Daniel Briere
DEFENSE Jan Hejda - Erik Johnson Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Nick Holden - Brad Stuart
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Calvin Pickard