The Avalanche will try and break a three-game losing streak Thursday when they play the New York Rangers at the Pepsi Center to open a four-game homestand.
Here are the game notes. The Avalanche (22-21-11) have skidded into the Central Division basement and fallen eight points behind Calgary for the second wild-card playoff position in the Western Conference. They trail 27-15 in ROW -- regulation and overtime wins, the tiebreaker -- and also need to pass Minnesota, Los Angeles and Dallas with just 28 games to play.
"Obviously we're not happy with the position we're in today," coach Patrick Roy said. "A week ago, before the Detroit game, we were very positive. We were four or five points out of a playoff spot. Today, a week later, we lost three in a row and we're eight points out of the playoffs. Obviously it's not where we wanted to be."
The Avalanche were shut out by Detroit and Minnesota, lost 5-3 in Winnipeg, and have failed to score on 27 consecutive power plays in the past nine games.
"The reflection is, how can we improve our offense?" Roy said. "When you're not scoring, you try to look for different solutions and you can possess the puck more and have more scoring chances and more shots on net. These are the three points I asked the players for tonight to help us produce more offense."
Offense isn't a problem for the Rangers (31-16-5), who hold the first wild-card position in the East and are fourth in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind Washington with three games in hand.
The Avalanche defense pair of Jan Hejda and Zach Redmond will be on the ice as much as possible against the Rangers' top line of Mats Zuccarello, Derick Brassard and Rick Nash.
Hejda and Nash, who is tied with Washington's Alex Ovechkin for the NHL goals lead with 33, were teammates in Columbus before Hejda signed with the Avalanche as a free agent in 2011.
"He's a very strong guy," Hejda said of the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Nash. "He has good skill, but I think his big advantage is he's super strong. Most of my career I've played against the top guys, so I have some experience to play against these guys. He's strong around the net and you have to be in good position every time against him because he can change a game.
"I have no problems playing against the top lines every night. I'm proud of my role. This is my job and I'm very happy to have it. If we can shut them down, this is the same feeling for me if I score a goal."
Here's the Avalanche lineup for tonight:
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 - Zach Redmond Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Nick Holden - Brad Stuart
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra