Avalanche at Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets try to take another step toward their second Stanley Cup playoff appearance in team history when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. Red-hot Ryan Johansen has three goals in his last three games and his overtime tally gave Columbus a 3-2 victory at Carolina on Saturday. The Blue Jackets hold down the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference - one point ahead of Washington with a game in hand on the Capitals.
Colorado clinched its first playoff berth in four years with a 3-2 victory over San Jose on Saturday but it came with a price. Matt Duchene, who leads the team with 70 points, injured his left knee and is expected to miss four weeks - which includes the first round of the playoffs. The Avalanche lead Chicago by one point for second place in the Central Division and have two games in hand on the Blackhawks, with home-ice advantage at stake as the teams will likely meet in the first round.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FSN Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (47-21-6): Few expected Colorado to make the postseason, but first-year coach Patrick Roy - the favorite to win the Jack Adams Award - brought a winning attitude and has his team poised to make a run at the Stanley Cup. Even without Duchene, the Avalanche still boast a young nucleus of forwards in 21-year-old captain Gabriel Landeskog (24 goals, 61 points), Ryan O'Reilly 23 (team-best 26 goals, 58 points), and 19-year-old Calder Trophy favorite Nathan MacKinnon (23, 56). Semyon Varlamov backbones the defense and has emerged as a Vezina Trophy candidate with 37 victories and a .926 save percentage.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (38-30-6): Johansen, the fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft, is enjoying a breakout season with 30 goals and 55 points - both team highs. "He's a unique combination of great high-end skills and soft hands," Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen told NHL.com. Sergei Bobrovsky (27-19-4, 2.47 goals against average, .919 save percentage) backed up Curtis McElhinney on Saturday, and is expected to be a game-time decision as he continues to battle the flu.
OVERTIME
1. Bobrovsky and Varlamov shared the goaltending duties for Russia in the Sochi Olympics, with the latter allowing three goals on 15 shots and getting pulled from the host country's devastating 3-1 loss to Finland in the quarterfinals. Varlamov is 9-3-0 since the NHL season resumed while Bobrovsky is 8-5-1.
2. The Blue Jackets missed out on the final playoff spot in the Western Conference last season when they lost a tiebreaker to Minnesota 22-19 for regulation or overtime victories. This season is a different story as they own sizable advantages in the wins and ROW columns over the nearest contenders.
3. Colorado won the first of two meetings this season with a 5-3 decision on Dec. 31. Varlamov made 35 saves and MacKinnon had a goal and an assist.