Avalanche Up For Another Tough Challenge

The Colorado Avalanche's recent history against the St. Louis Blues doesn't matter much tonight. For the club, it's about earning two points and continuing to gain an edge in the Western Conference playoff race.
Colorado presently holds the second wild-card spot in the west and is chasing and being chased by several clubs that are looking to play past the first week of April. The Avs are one point behind the Dallas Stars for the first wild-card spot and three points behind the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division and an automatic playoff bid.

The Blues are one of three teams chasing the Avs and are trying to get back into the playoff picture, as they are three points out of eighth place in the west.
"We know they are a pretty good team," said Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard. "They're only three points behind us. That is why the game tonight will be huge for us and for them. We're going to have to be ready for the game tonight."
Colorado hasn't had much success recently versus St. Louis, with the Blues winning four straight and having earned points in each of the last 12 matchups with the Avs (9-0-3). St. Louis is 13-2-0 in its last 15 games versus Colorado at Scottrade Center.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar sees a lot of parallels between this evening's contest versus the Blues and the team's meeting at the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, a game the club won 5-1 to push its point streak to eight games (5-0-3).
The Avs went 3-0-1 versus the Wild this year, winning the season series for the first time since 2013-14.
"This is another tough test. This is a lot like going into Minny, you know," Bednar said. "Tough building to come in and win in and a team that we haven't had a lot of success against. It's another challenge for our team and hopefully we're ready to accept that challenge and continue to do the things that made us successful in Minny."
Bednar noted that the past doesn't matter for the Avs' matchup tonight with only 13 games remaining in the regular season and seeding in Western Conference still very much influx. Finding a way to continue to climb in the standings is Colorado's motivation.
"I'm not worried about the last seven, five, 10 games we've played against these guys," Bednar said. "We have to narrow our focus to tonight's game. Shift-by-shift, period-by-period, we got to go out and play the right way. We have to be committed to playing the right way, to taking care of the puck and making sure that we put enough pressure on these guys.
"We're not going to try and redeem ourselves for our record against these guys for the last year or two years. We're looking to get the two points, because that's the most important thing for our team."
The Avs and Blues will meet for the fifth and final time this year on April 7 in Colorado in what will be both clubs' last contest of the regular season.

STREAKING

The Avalanche has a few more streaks it is looking to extend this evening besides its eight-game unbeaten stretch (5-0-3).
Forward Nathan MacKinnon has registered a point in nine straight contests (eight goals and nine assists), tying his season high that he previously set from Dec. 29 to Jan. 20. He'll look to become the first Colorado player with a double-digit point streak since his 13-game run as a rookie in 2013-14.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie will look to extend his point streak to eight contests this evening. His seven-game run (four goals and six assists) is a career long and is the longest by an Avs blueliner since Kevin Shattenkirk registered a point in nine straight outings from Nov. 17 to Dec. 4, 2010.
On special teams, the Avalanche has scored a power-play goal in eight consecutive contests. The last time the team tallied with the man advantage in nine straight games was Feb. 15 to March 2, 2013.

LINEUP NOTES

The Avs won't make any lineup changes to what they iced in Tuesday's win in Minnesota. Colorado will use the same forward and defensive combinations, with defensemen Mark Alt and Anton Lindholm and forward Nail Yakupov set to be the healthy scratches.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov will start in net for a second straight game and will play in his 15th consecutive outing. A decision on if he'll also start in Friday's home game versus the Nashville Predators likely won't be made until the morning of.
"Play Varly tonight and talk to him after the game, talk to him in the morning and then make a decision," Bednar told reporters after Colorado's morning skate in St. Louis.
Rookie Spencer Martin will be the Avs' backup netminder, the fifth time he's served as support from the bench this year.
Here is the Avalanche's projected lineup.