Red Wings at Avalanche
In 1997, the Detroit Red Wings ousted the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals on their way to winning the first of four Stanley Cup championships in a 12-year span. Twenty years later, each team is residing in last place in their respective divisions as they prepare to square off in Colorado on Wednesday night.
Detroit has represented a standard of excellence in the NHL, but its streak of 25 consecutive postseason appearances -- tied for the third-longest string in NHL history -- is crashing to a halt. A promising start that saw the Red Wings rip off six straight wins in the first two weeks of the season has faded amid six losing streaks of at least four games. Meanwhile, Colorado became the first team to be officially eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday -- the sixth time in seven seasons it has missed the postseason. With the Avalanche set to visit Detroit on Saturday, it's worth noting that the away team has won seven straight meetings in the series, including the Red Wings' past four visits to the Mile High City.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FSN-Plus Detroit, Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (26-30-11): Jimmy Howard, who returned from a sprained knee to beat Chicago on Friday in his first appearance since Dec. 20, is expected to get the nod Wednesday in the first leg of Detroit's back-to-back. It also appears that rookie Anthony Mantha, a healthy scratch for the past two games after drawing the ire of coach Jeff Blashill, will be back in the lineup. A 14-goal scorer, Mantha skated on the second line with Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm at Tuesday's practice.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (19-46-3): Colorado has dropped six of its last eight games following a 1-0 overtime loss against another last-place team in Arizona -- its third shutout defeat in that span and 12th of the season. The Avalanche rank last in the league in offense and have scored more than three goals once in the past 18 games, but trade-deadline acquisition Sven Andrighetto is showing promise. Brought in from Montreal, he had a three-game point streak halted in the loss to Arizona.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche (13.3 percent) and Red Wings (12.7) rank 29th and 30th, respectively, in power-play efficiency.
2. Howard is 7-2-2 with a 2.54 goals-against average versus the Avalanche.
3. Colorado recalled D Anton Lindholm from San Antonio of the American Hockey League.