Daily Primer March 12: Blackhawks out for revenge

The Colorado Avalanche came to United Center eight days ago and left with a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, their third in four games this season against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Blackhawks will seek revenge Wednesday night when they visit Pepsi Center for a game that will leave the winner in second place in the Central Division. Colorado and Chicago are chasing the St. Louis Blues, who lead the NHL with 95 points.

Here's a look at all of the action Wednesday:

Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens -- One of two five-game winning streaks is going to end at Bell Centre in this week's Wednesday Night Rivalry game (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, RDS, TSN-Habs). The Bruins bring a five-game winning streak to Montreal; the Canadiens have won five in a row against their longtime rival. Montreal might have the harder time extending its streak: The Canadiens are still without goaltender Carey Price, who will be missing his eighth game in a row due to a lower-body injury sustained while leading Canada to the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Vancouver Canucks at Winnipeg Jets -- It's desperation time for the Canucks and Jets, each of whom are coming off a painful loss Monday. The Canucks were 20 minutes away from back-to-back wins, but they collapsed in the third period against the New York Islanders, allowing a 3-0 lead to turn into a 7-4 home loss. The Jets battled the Avalanche to a 2-2 standstill through 60 minutes, only to have Matt Duchene score off a broken play midway through overtime for the win. Each team enters the night with 68 points, six behind the Dallas Stars, who own the final wild-card position in the Western Conference.

Chicago Blackhawks at Colorado Avalanche -- Corey Crawford has allowed one goal each in back-to-back wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres. But he was the loser against the Avalanche last week, and Chicago coach Joel Quenneville will start rookie Antti Raanta in Denver. Raanta hasn't started since Jan. 28. It's the third straight home game for Colorado, which lost 2-1 to St. Louis before beating Winnipeg on Monday.

Anaheim Ducks at Calgary Flames -- The Ducks hit the road after a disappointing five-game homestand that ended with three losses (two in shootouts), dropping Anaheim out of first place in the overall standings. The Ducks begin a stretch of three games in four days that will see them visit Colorado on Friday and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. The injury-plagued Flames have lost back-to-back one-goal games and saw forward Markus Granlund (upper body) join the injured list Monday night in a 3-2 loss to the Kings. The good news for Calgary is that forwards Curtis Glencross and Kevin Westgarth are expected to be back Wednesday night. Also, rookie defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon, who left the game against L.A. with an upper-body injury, should be able to play.