Morning Skate Report: Playoff Push Continues Against Carolina

Tonight's matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes at Pepsi Center features motivated teams that are fighting to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Avs are two points behind the Minnesota Wild, which holds the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, and have three fewer points than the Dallas Stars, the current occupant of the first wild-card position.
Similar to how Colorado is battling for a spot in the West, Carolina sits in seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Hurricanes have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 outings and are just two points ahead of the Columbus Blues Jackets and Montreal Canadiens.

"We don't see them a ton, but they are kind of in the same situation we are [in the other conference]," said Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrrie. "They have been playing some really good hockey lately, so it is going to be a good test for us. It should be a very playoff-like game."
The contest will be the second of a four-game homestand for Colorado, which opened the stretch with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The win improved the Avs record to 15-9-6 against Eastern teams this season, with an 8-4-2 mark at home.
The Avalanche outshot Buffalo 43-18 in the outing, including by a 36-9 margin at one point in the third period.
"We did a great job on the defensive side of the puck and even when we were in the offensive zone--reloading, tight gaps, things like that--I think that negates anybody's offense," said veteran forward Colin Wilson. "You know they are going to bring their game and as long as we play the way we did [against the Sabres], it should be taken care of."

Carolina leads the league with an average of 34.7 shots per game and also gives up the least amount per outing, only allowing its opponent to register 28.3 shots on average.
The Hurricanes had a 43-22 edge in the category when the teams met for the first time this season in Carolina on Oct. 20, but Colorado won the matchup 3-1.
"They are a hard-working team, a desperate team," Wilson said of tonight's opposition. "They play their systems really well, so in this last playoff stretch every game really is a playoff game. I am sure it will be exciting tonight."
The Avalanche has won a season-high three straight home games and is 7-3-1 over its last 11 contests, with a 5-0-1 record in its last six outings at Pepsi Center.
"I think we have started to play better hockey as of late, I like the way our team is coming together," said head coach Jared Bednar. "I certainly liked the way our team stepped up and our lines kind of gelled after losing Landy (Gabriel Landeskog) the other night against Buffalo, so hopefully that can continue. The commitment part of it--to check and get above pucks--was really strong and we are going to need that, especially against a real good Carolina team tonight."

GRUBI IN NET

Philipp Grubauer will make his second straight start between the pipes. He has two shutouts in his past three starts and has posted a 0.65 goals-against average and .976 save percentage over his last four appearances.
Grubauer was in net when Colorado faced the Hurricanes earlier this year and made a career-high 42 saves in the victory.
"He has given us some real quality starts here, he was great the other night," said Bednar. "Key saves early in the game, especially the breakaway when they came out of the box there to keep the game tied. Made all the saves he needed to make, so we are going to go back with him here, give Varly (Semyon Varlamov) a bit of a mental break and see if we can ride a hot goalie again. I feel confident in him, lineup is staying the exact same."
Rookie defenseman Ryan Graves is expected to be Colorado's only healthy scratch.
VIEW: Avalanche vs. Hurricanes Projected Lineup

YOUNG FINNISH STARS

Mikko Rantanen, a native of Nousiainen, Finland, scored his 30th goal of the season on Saturday to set a new career high and become the third Avalanche player to reach the 30-goal plateau this year (Nathan MacKinnon, 35; Gabriel Landeskog, 33).
Carolina's Sebastian Aho, who is from Rauma, Finland, also scored for the 30th time this year on Saturday. Aho and Rantanen became the first Finnish-born players this season to reach the 30-goal mark. They were joined by Florida's Aleksander Barkov, who accomplished the feat on Sunday. Only five campaigns in NHL history have concluded with three Finnish-born 30-goal scorers.
Rantanen and Aho are familiar with each other, as they both helped Team Finland to the gold medal at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship in Helsinki.
"We played Under-18 World Championship in Finland together, we shared the same team there," Rantanen said of his relationship with Aho. "I go to dinner with him when we play [each other], we only play twice a year so we don't see him too often. We also saw him in the all-star game so we spent the whole weekend together and it was a fun time."

146TH MEETING OF THE FRANCHISES

Tonight's contest is the 146th all-time meeting between these two franchises, who joined the NHL together from the WHA in 1979 as the Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques.
Colorado/Quebec holds a 75-46-24 all-time edge. The Avs have gained points in 15 straight games against the Hurricanes in the Mile High City, going 12-0-3 since the start of the 1996-97 season (12 wins, 2 ties, 1 OT loss).
Carolina's 1-0 overtime victory on Oct. 21, 2015 at Pepsi Center was the franchise's first win in Denver since Feb. 9, 1996 at McNicholas arena when they were the Hartford Whalers. The Avs are 11-0-1 against the Hurricanes at Pepsi Center since the building opened in 1999.