Eurolanche

Avalanche Tries For Sweep Of Stars

Season series: It is the second meeting in four days and concludes the three-game season series between the teams. Colorado is coming off a 4-3 win over Dallas in Denver on Wednesday.

Big story: Both of these struggling Western Conference teams are looking to string together back-to-back wins on Saturday. Colorado enters the contest with the advantage of a two-day break after Wednesday's come-from-behind win, while the Stars won 2-0 in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

Team Scope:

Avalanche: Colorado's 4-3 win snapped a four-game winless streak for the Avalanche. Colorado trailed 2-0 and 3-2, but got the win thanks to third-period goals by Mark Olver and Chuck Kobasew.

"It was a big game for those guys. It's nice to get contributions from role players," coach Joe Sacco said. "[Kobasew] scored a big goal at the end and [Olver] had a great response. He certainly showed a lot of desperation and passion in his game. There were a lot of other guys, too, but especially those two guys."

Both Kobasew and Olver received additional ice time with forwards David Jones and Jamie McGinn both out of the lineup.

Stars: After giving up a 2-0 lead and 3-2 lead in Wednesday night's loss to the Avalanche, the Stars bounced back by blanking the Kings 2-0 on Thursday.

It was the Stars' fourth straight win at Staples Center. Kari Lehtonen made 40 saves to earn his first shutout of the season. Both goals came in the third period and were scored by 41-year-old Jaromir Jagr and 40-year-old Ray Whitney, respectively.

"There were a couple of shifts where Kings guys tried to get the puck from Jagr and he was just keeping it," Lehtonen said. "That's something I was used to seeing on TV when I was a little kid. You think you work hard, and then you look at those guys. They do it at another level. I hope when I'm that age I have that same sort of joy for hockey."

Who's hot: Avalanche center Ryan O'Reilly has four points in his past four games, including a goal and an assist in his last outing. ... Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog is on a career-long four-game goal streak, which includes short-handed goals in the last two contests. … Jagr continues to lead the Stars in points with 22, including 12 goals; he has four points in his past two games.

Injury report: Colorado defenseman Ryan Wilson (ankle) is day-to-day. … Stars forward Ryan Garbutt (hand) and defenseman Aaron Rome (foot) both are day-to-day.

-- by Deborah Francisco for NHL.com --