Hurricanes at Avalanche
THE STORY: The Colorado Avalanche can't afford to let points slip away. With the Eastern Conference cellar-dwelling Carolina Hurricanes paying a visit to the Rocky Mountains on Friday, coach Joe Sacco's club will look to maintain its home mastery over the Carolina franchise and remain in the thick of it in the ultra-tight Western Conference standings. The Avalanche have not lost to the Hurricanes in their last nine meetings - dating back to when the latter franchise was known as the Hartford Whalers.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSCR, ALT
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (20-25-10): Judging by Carolina's lack of success away from the Tar Heel State, Colorado's home dominance could very well continue on Friday. The Hurricanes have won just six of 26 road tilts this season (6-13-7) - and just three of 14 (3-6-5) under new coach Kirk Muller. Captain Eric Staal sits one point shy of Kevin Dineen's total of 544 - good enough for second-best in franchise history. Ron Francis is by far and away the leader in that department with 1,175. Staal has collected just two assists in six career games versus the Avalanche.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (27-25-3): Colorado sits just three points behind the eighth-place Phoenix Coyotes, although Dallas, Minnesota and Calgary are also marginally ahead of the Avalanche. Colorado snapped a five-game winless streak with a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. The Avalanche's five tallies were the most by the club since it scored six times against New Jersey on Nov. 30. Second overall pick Gabriel Landeskog has notched points in five of his last seven contests.
OVERTIME:
1. The then-Whalers posted a tie in Colorado in 1996 before relocating to Carolina in 1997.
2. Avalanche G Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who was selected by the Whalers in the 1995 draft, has 244 NHL victories on his resume. With his next victory, Giguere will move past Colorado goaltending coach Kirk McLean for 46th all-time