The Avalanche face Tampa Bay on Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center to open a two-game homestand that includes Thursday's game with New Jersey. All three teams are competing for a playoff spot in their respective conferences.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
Not sure which is more surprising: the Avalanche in the hunt in the West after their poor start, or the Lightning in the East after advancing to the Stanley Cup Final last season.
I spoke with Lightning star Steven Stamkos in the morning and he talked about the parity in the NHL this year, along with the fact that his team also slumped after opening the season with three wins.
"Probably unmatched in sports if you look at the standings, so it really is one game at a time," he said. "You need to kind of give yourself some breathing room by going on a streak where you're playing consistent hockey and getting points. We feel we're on our way and hopefully we'll take another step tonight."
Both teams could move into the second wild card in their conference Tuesday. Tampa Bay (21-17-4) is one point behind New Jersey, which plays at St. Louis. The Avalanche (21-19-3) are tied with Nashville, which has played one fewer game and is in Chicago.
The Lightning are 2-1-0 in the first three games of a four-game road trip with wins in the past two games in Edmonton and Vancouver.
The Avalanche are coming off a 6-3 loss Sunday in Chicago after winning three in a row at home, where they're 9-9-3 for the year.
"We have to use this game to get back on track," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "We have to make sure we take care of business right here. We had a lot of road games the first half of the season and we're excited to keep this thing going. We're back to .500 at home now and we want to climb on top of that and keep playing strong at home. We didn't play as bad as the results show (against Chicago), and it's not going to bother us."
*****
Defenseman Erik Johnson skated for the first time Tuesday since hurting his knee a week ago, but no return date has been set. He was on the ice before the Avalanche's morning skate.
"Progress there," coach Patrick Roy said. "We'll know more the more he's going to be on the ice."
Defenseman Brad Stuart, out with a back injury since getting hurt Nov. 10, took part in the morning skate and appears to be making progress.
"To me, it's one day at a time," Roy said. "When you have a back injury and (the pain) goes in his leg, some days are good and some days are not. I thought last week he was progressing pretty well and he had a bit of a setback. Hopefully he'll be OK to play eventually."
*****
No lineup changes for the Avalanche. Ben Bishop is expected to be in goal for the Lightning.
FORWARDS Alex Tanguay - Nathan MacKinnon - Matt Duchene Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau Andreas Martinsen - Mikhail Grigorenko - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - John Mitchell - Jack Skille DEFENSE Francois Beauchemin - Andrew Bodnarchuk Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie Zach Redmond - Nate Guenin GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Calvin Pickard