Eurolanche

Avs, Canucks continue playoff pursuits

Season series: The Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks split early-season blowout wins at Pepsi Center. Jarome Iginla has two goals and four points for the Avalanche; Canucks captain Henrik Sedin has a goal in each game.

Avalanche (33-28-12) team scope: Colorado's slim hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs took a hit when the Avalanche lost 4-3 at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. The Avalanche are 10 points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference with nine games remaining. Colorado overcame an early three-goal deficit, but allowed a go-ahead, power-play goal to Derek Roy midway through the third period, about six minutes after Ryan O'Reilly had gotten the Avalanche even. "I'm proud of the way our guys played in the second and third periods," coach Patrick Roy said. "I thought we dominated the game. We had 44 shots on net." Semyon Varlamov is likely to be back in goal even though he was hooked after allowing three goals on seven shots to the Oilers.

Canucks (43-26-4) team scope: Forwards Jannik Hansen, Alexandre Burrows and Zach Kassian didn't practice Wednesday, but coach Willie Desjardins said Hansen and Burrows will be ready to go against Colorado. The Canucks enter Thursday in second place in the Pacific Division, but they still have work to do to assure themselves a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "We're 5-1-0 in our last six and we haven't really pulled away from anyone, other teams are staying right with us," defenseman Kevin Bieksa told the Canucks website. "It's tough to get that separation. You can't take a couple games off." Defenseman Adam Clendening was sent to Utica of the American Hockey League; Desjardins said the move was made to get him some playing time, which he wasn't getting in Vancouver.

-- by NHL.com --