Avalanche at Blues
The St. Louis Blues are in the midst of an historical run and can become the second NHL team in the expansion era to register five consecutive shutouts when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. The spectacular shutout streak is part of a 10-2-0 stretch that has the surging Blues even in points with Dallas for first place in the Central Division.
Brian Elliott, who will get the start Tuesday, authored the first three shutouts during the franchise-record stretch and on Monday was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week. "The goalies have been just outstanding," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters. "They are the story of the team this year, and they're keeping us afloat again." The Avalanche kept alive their playoff hopes with a 4-3 victory at Nashville on Monday, drawing within three points of Minnesota for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Colorado won all three of its previous meetings with the Blues this season, surrendering a total of five goals.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (39-33-4): Colorado produced its highest regulation goal total since Feb. 11 despite missing its top two scorers in Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, who have been sidelined for five and four games, respectively. Semyon Varlamov may get the call for both ends of the back-to-back, given his 3-0-0 record against the Blues this season. Colorado faces a brutal closing stretch with two matchups against St. Louis sandwiched around a date with NHL-leading Washington before closing the season with games at Nashville and Dallas and a home encounter versus Anaheim.
ABOUT THE BLUES (45-22-9): While St. Louis will be without defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson, it will welcome back Alex Steen, who returns after missing 15 games due to an upper-body injury. Steen, who remains second on the team in scoring with 47 points, was centering captain David Backes and Patrik Berglund prior to the injury. "It looks like that's where I'll be playing," Steen told reporters. "I thought I was playing some pretty good hockey right up until the injury. It will be exciting to try and jump back in and try to get to where I was before."
OVERTIME
1. The 1927-28 Ottawa Senators hold the NHL record with six consecutive shutouts.
2. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is one tally shy of his fourth 20-goal season, but he's scored only once in 18 games versus St. Louis.
3. Elliott is 8-0-0 in his last nine starts overall and 5-2-2 with a 2.26 goals-against average versus Colorado.