The Avalanche and Dallas Stars will meet three times in February, with the first one Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center. The outcomes will have a significant impact on the teams' playoff fortunes.
Here are the game notes.
The Avalanche (21-18-11) are four points behind Vancouver (57-53), which has fallen to the second wild-card position in the Western Conference. The Canucks have played two fewer games and have a 25-15 lead in non-shootout wins.
The Stars (23-19-7) also have 53 points but have played one fewer game than the Avalanche and have a 21-15 lead in non-shootout wins. Los Angeles (21-16-12) is three points behind Vancouver (57-54) and has 20 non-shootout wins.
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal for the 15th time in 16 games, and he's playing the way he did last season when he was a Vezina Trophy finalist. He has an 8-3-3 record in this stretch with two shutouts, a 2.18 goals-against average and .932 save percentage.
Overall, Varlamov is 13-10-7 with a 2.62 average, four shutouts (tied for fifth in the NHL) and a .922 save percentage (tied for ninth).
"I'm not surprised," coach Patrick Roy said of Varlamov, who earlier missed 17 games because of groin injuries. "Even before he got hurt the first time, sometimes statistics are not an exact science. The first game you give up five goals in two periods (opening night against Minnesota) and he carried that a long way. The numbers might not have been as good as right now, but he was playing well then. I knew he would get his timing pretty fast."
Varlamov has limited teams to two goals or fewer in nine of his past 15 starts and allowed as many as four goals twice, Jan. 4 in a 4-3 loss to Columbus and Jan. 27 in a 4-3 overtime loss in Nashville.
Right wing Jarome Iginla has a goal in three consecutive games and 576 in his career. He needs one to tie Mark Recchi for 19th place all time. He didn't practice Monday because a bruised leg but will play against the Stars. So will linemate Alex Tanguay (bruised hand).
The Avalanche went 7-3-3 in January and are 12-5-5 since Dec. 11. The Stars, who have won two games in a row, also have been playing well, going 12-6-2 since Dec. 13.
Kari Lehtonen will make his seventh consecutive start in goal, and forward Erik Cole will return after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He'll skate on a line with Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky.
The Avalanche will need to control Dallas' top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Eaves, and keep their eyes on rookie defenseman John Klingberg, who had four points Saturday in Winnipeg. He has nine goals and 24 points in 35 games.
No changes in the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Alex Tanguay - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Nathan MacKinnon Cody McLeod - John Mitchell - Dennis Everberg Maxime Talbot - Marc-Andre Cliche - Daniel Briere
DEFENSE Jan Hejda - Zach Redmond Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Nick Holden - Brad Stuart
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra