Eurolanche

Avs aim for another win

Season series: The Colorado Avalanche has won all three games against the St. Louis Blues, including two past regulation. Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon has scored two goals, each late in the third period to tie a game. Avalanche forwards Matt Duchene, Mikhail Grigorenko, Gabriel Landeskog and John Mitchell each has a goal and assist, and defenseman Tyson Barrie has two assists. Vladimir Tarasenko has two goals and one assist for St. Louis.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado is three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with six games remaining for each team. The Avalanche defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Monday for its fourth straight road win.

"It was a chance for us to play a strong game and prove that we were not going to give up," coach Patrick Roy said. "... We've been playing well on the road."

Colorado is 22-16-0 away from Pepsi Center. The Avs will play without both Duchene (knee) and MacKinnon (knee) for a fifth consecutive game.

Roy said goalie Semyon Varlamov, who made 32 saves in Nashville, will start.

Blues team scope: St. Louis is in search of its fifth straight shutout victory, which would tie the modern NHL record held by the Phoenix Coyotes and goalie Brian Boucher (Dec. 31, 2003-Jan. 9, 2004).

Goalie Brian Elliott, who had the first three shutouts before Jake Allen blanked the Washington Capitals on Saturday, will start.

"It was on our side this (past) week," Elliott said of the shutout streak that's reached a franchise-record 240:18. "I think we have a really good feeling in here right now, especially after the last game in a tough rink against the first place team in the league. I think that gave us a little bit of a pump-up and a measuring stick that we can beat any team in this league if we play our game. With that confidence moving forward, it'll help us for sure."

The Blues will get forward Alexander Steen (upper body) back after he missed the past 15 games. Defensemen Jay Bouwmeester (upper body) and Carl Gunnarsson (lower body) did not practice Monday and will not play.

-- by NHL.com --