Avalanche at Stars
With their offense finally showing a pulse, the Colorado Avalanche will open a three-game road trip at the Dallas Stars on Thursday night in a matchup of struggling Central Division rivals. It will be the first meeting between the teams since the season opener, when Colorado held on for a 6-5 victory behind Joe Colborne's hat trick.
Following an 11-game stretch in which they were limited to two goals or fewer eight times, the Avalanche snapped out of the scoring slump in a 4-1 win over Los Angeles on Tuesday night. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, set to make his third straight start, also appears to be emerging from his own funk by turning aside 76 of 78 shots over the past two games. Dallas ended its five-game road trip with a 5-4 overtime loss in Vancouver before falling to 0-5 in OT with a 2-1 loss to New Jersey on Tuesday night. "We just have to take the first 60 minutes and then the next," said Stars defenseman Jordie Benn after the team's ninth straight overtime defeat dating to last season.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FSN Southwest (Dallas), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (7-8-0): Center Matt Duchene missed the past two games with concussion-related symptoms, but he practiced fully Wednesday and could return against Dallas. "It felt good (practicing). I feel better every day," said Duchene, the team's leading scorer with 11 points. "Things kind of settle in as you're healing, you feel better as the day goes on. Today I felt like I was able to be myself out there." Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch notched a goal and an assist Tuesday, ending a seven-game point drought.
ABOUT THE STARS (6-6-5): Dallas' injury-plagued lineup has been taxed by seven games in 11 days, but Jason Spezza returned Tuesday, Cody Eakin could be back Thursday and Patrick Sharp is possible for Saturday. "It's huge. Jason is a calming aspect on the power play and he's just a veteran guy that comes in and does his job," Benn said. "With Patrick and Cody pretty close to coming back, they're going to fill out some lines which will be huge for us." Eakin centered Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn at Wednesday's practice.
OVERTIME
1. Varlamov is 12-3-2 against the Stars despite a 2.99 goals-against average.
2. Stars F Antoine Roussel has three goals and six assists during a seven-game point streak.
3. Duchene has 10 goals and 27 points in 29 games versus Dallas.