Flyers at Avalanche
The Philadelphia Flyers have been unable to seal the deal away from home lately but look to do just that when they conclude their three-game road trip Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche. Philadelphia has gone beyond regulation in each of its last three road contests but came away without a win every time - including Tuesday's game in Dallas, where they dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime.
The Flyers extended their point streak to six games (3-0-3), however, and maintained their hold on the first wild card in the Eastern Conference with five games remaining but can move past Columbus for third place in the Metropolitan Division with a victory in Denver. The Avalanche fell out of a wild-card spot in the West on Tuesday but hope to regain it and pull within two points of Minnesota for third in the Central Division by defeating Philadelphia. Colorado is coming off a split of a home-and-home series against Pacific-leading Vegas as it posted a 2-1 shootout win at home Saturday before falling 4-1 on the road two nights later. The Avalanche look to complete a sweep of the two-game season series after edging the Flyers 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 4 in the City of Brotherly Love.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia Plus, Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE FLYERS (38-25-14): Captain Claude Giroux, who leads the team with 92 points, is riding a five-game streak during which he has collected nine assists to set a career high of 66. The 30-year-old center is one point shy of matching the personal best he recorded in 2011-12 and has not been kept off the scoresheet in back-to-back games since Feb. 3 and 6. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been a major factor in the team's offense of late, posting back-to-back two-assist performances to give him three two-point efforts over his last four games and a total of nine points in his last eight contests.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (41-27-8): Several players reached milestones in Monday's loss as captain Gabriel Landeskog became the fifth draft pick in Avalanche history to appear in 500 games while Tyson Barrie joined three others as the only defensemen to skate in 400 contests for the team since it arrived in Colorado. Gabriel Bourque, who has gone 21 games without a goal, also joined in on the festivities by playing in his 300th NHL contest. Nathan MacKinnon, who has set career highs in goals (38), assists (54) and points, is two away from reaching the 300-point plateau.
OVERTIME
1. Avalanche C Alexander Kerfoot needs one point to break a tie with T.J. Galiardi (39) and become the 10th-highest scoring rookie in team history.
2. Philadelphia signed G Felix Sandstrom, its third-round pick in the 2015 draft, to an entry-level contract.
3. Colorado is the first team to make a 40-point improvement from its previous season since Pittsburgh went from 58 in 2005-06 to 105 the following campaign.