Avalanche at Canucks
THE STORY: The Colorado Avalanche have an uphill climb if they wish to make the playoffs. Coach Dave Sacco's club sits just one point out of eighth place in the Western Conference, but it has a league-low four remaining games on its schedule. The Avalanche will have a stern test on Wednesday when they visit the Vancouver Canucks, who are 14-0-2 in their last 16 meetings.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, ALT, RSNP
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (40-32-6): Monday's 5-1 loss to San Jose marked Colorado's third straight setback. The Avalanche will visit division rivals Vancouver and Calgary (on Friday) before taking five days off to essentially watch things unfold. Unfortunately for Colorado, it isn't doing much damage on the scoreboard with only five goals in its last three games (0-2-1). Semyon Varlamov has been adversely affected by his team's power outage and is still searching for his first career win versus the Canucks (0-4-1).
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (46-21-9): Vancouver has won three in a row without All-Star Daniel Sedin, who is nursing a concussion and could be out until at least the beginning of the playoffs. Manny Malhotra filled in admirably by scoring his first goal in 14 games and Roberto Luongo recorded his fourth shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory over Los Angeles on Monday. The Canucks moved to within four points of St. Louis for the top seed in the Western Conference.
OVERTIME:
1. Vancouver has dominated Colorado en route to winning its fourth straight Northwest Division title. The Canucks, who will vie for the season sweep on Wednesday, have outscored the Avalanche by an 18-5 margin.
2. Steve Downie has cooled considerably after a hot start with his new team. Downie has been held without a goal in his last 14 games.