Penguins at Avalanche
The surging Colorado Avalanche continue to hold off the Chicago Blackhawks for second place in the Central Division and will go for their seventh consecutive win when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night. The Avalanche turned in their most impressive victory of the winning streak Saturday with a 4-0 drubbing at Western Conference-leading St. Louis. The testy matchup of division rivals led Colorado coach Patrick Roy to call Blues captain David Backes "gutless."
Metropolitan Division winner Pittsburgh, locked into the No. 2 seed in the East and with little for which to play, fell into an early three-goal hole and went down meekly in a 4-0 loss at Minnesota on Saturday. It was the second one-sided setback in three games for the Penguins, but captain Sidney Crosby said there's no reason to be alarmed. "We know what that is. We've done a pretty good job of it," Crosby said. "We know what that looks like. It’s just a matter of finding that urgency for the last little bit.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, RDS2, ROOT (Pittsburgh), ALT (Colorado)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (49-24-5): Marc-Andre Fleury was the first goaltender in the league to reach 30 wins this season, but he has turned in uneven performances down the stretch - allowing at least three goals in eight of his last 15 starts. Still, Fleury needs three victories for his third 40-win campaign and takes a 5-2-0 record against the Avalanche into Sunday's matchup - Pittsburgh's final road game of the regular season. One area of concern for the Penguins is the power play, which has converted on only 1-of-18 chances over the past six games.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (50-21-6): Semyon Varlamov extended his winning streak to six games in style, blanking St. Louis for his second shutout and increasing his league-leading total to 40 victories to match the franchise record held by Roy. Colorado has managed to withstand the loss of leading scorer Matt Duchene, who suffered a knee injury against San Jose on March 29 that will sideline him into the playoffs. Paul Stastny has helped fill the offensive void by collecting a pair of goals and seven assists during a six-game point streak.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche won at Pittsburgh 1-0 on Oct. 21 to end a string of four straight losses to the Penguins.
2. Crosby has five goals and three assists in five games versus Colorado.
3. Roy became the fifth coach in league history to register 50 wins in his first season.