The Avalanche host the Dallas Stars tonight at the Pepsi Center in what should be a very interesting game. The Avs appeared close to writing off the entire half season just a few days ago, but with two well-played wins in a row against Calgary and Edmonton, the wheels are back on the bus for now. Even while missing key players, the Avs are suddenly *winning* and it will be very interesting to see if they can continue the streak. I think they know "how" to do it - stay out of the box and win it 5-on-5 with an aggressive forecheck. It's just a matter of can they keep that up?
The game features two teams that have struggled to put pucks in the net. Both are in the bottom 3rd of the league in scoring and each team has been shut out twice already this year. So, of course, this will be another 7-6 barn burner. And since the Avs are the only Western Conference team without an OT appearance, might as well bank on a three point game tonight.
The Avs' injury list continues to grow. Steve Downie is out for the year, Gabriel Landeskog is on the IR, David Jones missed the last game with a knee injury and now Ryan Wilson is out indefinitely with a leg injury suffered in the game against Edmonton. Because, why make it easy?
This will be the 1,000th career game for Milan Hejduk and it looks like NBC Sports will show the ceremony before the game, pushing back the puck drop a bit.