Avalanche at Blues
The Colorado Avalanche continue to battle for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but injuries to key players are starting to mount as they visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. Mikko Rantanen missed Tuesday's 3-1 victory over San Jose - Colorado's only home game between Jan. 20 and Feb. 14 - with a lower-body injury, leaving the Avalanche without their top two point-getters as he joined Nathan MacKinnon (upper-body) in the trainer's room.
“It’s something every team goes through,'' Colorado coach Jared Bednar told reporters. "Every team in the league is going through injuries to some high-profile guys. It is what it is. You got to find a way to win without them. We’re in a spot here, we’re in a race to try to stay in the playoffs ..." The Avalanche are one point out of a wild-card spot while St. Louis sits third in the Central Division, five points ahead of Colorado after Tuesday's 6-2 loss to Minnesota - its second setback in the last three games. "I wish I had an answer. Just disconnect all over the ice," Alex Pietrangelo, who leads Blues defensemen with eight goals and 35 points but has been kept off the scoresheet for the past four games, told reporters. St. Louis has won three straight and eight of the last nine meetings, including the first two of five encounters this season - 4-3 in Denver on Oct. 19 and 3-1 at home Jan. 25 - with the Blues' Paul Stastny scoring in each game against his former team.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (29-19-4): MacKinnon (team highs of 24 goals and 61 points) and Rantanen (17, 50) have combined for nearly 25 percent of the club's goals, leaving Gabriel Landeskog (19, 40) as the only healthy member of Colorado's top line. Landeskog on Tuesday was joined by Alexander Kerfoot (12 goals, 32 points), who hasn't recorded a point in four games (including the three MacKinnon completely missed), and Colin Wilson, who is pointless in his last five. Semyon Varlamov (13-10-2, 2.84 goals-against average, .912 save percentage) is expected to make his second start in goal since missing 11 games with a groin injury and is 9-9-2, 2.28, .930 lifetime versus St. Louis.
ABOUT THE BLUES (32-20-3): Jaden Schwartz (16 goals, 37 points) has scored twice in his last three games - his third, fourth and fifth since missing 20 with an ankle injury. Brayden Schenn (team-most 51 points) has recorded only an assist in his last four contests after scoring in four straight games. Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko share the club lead with 21 goals apiece but Tarasenko hasn't scored in five contests.
OVERTIME
1. Avalanche LW J.T. Compher (11 goals) has scored in four of his last five games and boasts six points in his past six contests.
2. St. Louis began a stretch Tuesday that sees it play eight of 10 versus the Central Division while Colorado is 3-3-1 to start a run of 16 games that include 13 on the road.
3. Blues G Carter Hutton was pulled following the first period Tuesday after allowing three goals on eight shots, snapping a four-game winning streak during which he stopped 121-of-123 shots.