Colorado Hosts Flyers In Wednesday Night Tilt

The Colorado Avalanche returns to Pepsi Center for a two-game homestand, starting with the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.
With six games remaining, the Avs find themselves one point out of the final Western Conference wild card spot with a game in hand over the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings while four teams remain within two points of each other in the heated race.
Colorado is 17-9-6 against Philadelphia since the team's inaugural season in Denver in 1995-96, including a 9-3-5 record at home against the Flyers.

Last Time Out

Colorado fell 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night. Erik Johnson tallied his ninth goal of the season with helpers from Matt Nieto and Blake Comeau to tie the game midway through the second period. Less than a minute later, Vegas' Jonathan Marchessault scored the Golden Knights go-ahead goal as the club took a 2-1 lead into the third period. Vegas found the back of the net early in the third and added an empty-net goal to defeat the Avalanche, who have gone 7-3-3 in the month of March. Semyon Varlamov, making his eighth-straight start and appearing in his 21st consecutive contest, made 26 saves.
Philadelphia fell 3-2 to the Dallas Stars in overtime on Tuesday night. The Flyers found themselves in a 1-0 hole but Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov tallied to take a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Shayne Gostisbehere tallied a helper on both Flyers goals and Claude Giroux notched his career-best 66th assist of the season. The Stars netted the equalizer to take a 2-2 tie into the second intermission. A scoreless third period sent the game into overtime and Dallas scored 40 seconds into the extra frame to take home the win. Petr Mrazek made 20 saves to help his team collect a point in the overtime loss.

Last Time They Met

The Avs defeated the Flyers 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 4 in Philadelphia. Matt Duchene scored in the final seconds of the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the second. After allowing two unanswered goals, Blake Comeau notched a shorthanded goal and Mikko Rantanen tallied a power-play marker to make it a 3-2 game. Nail Yakupov scored in the third frame but Philadelphia tied the contest and sent it to an extra frame A scoreless overtime period led to a shootout where Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each scored to give the Avs a 5-4 victory. Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves and stopped two-of-three skaters in the shootout to secure the win for Colorado.

What To Watch

Strong Play Against The East
Colorado's matchup against Philadelphia will be its final contest against an Eastern Conference opponent this season. The Avs have gone 19-10-2 against easterly and versus the Metropolitan Division, home of the Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado has been equally strong with a 9-5-1 mark.
Wild Ride To The Finish
Wednesday's matchup will showcase two teams fighting for the playoffs as the season races to a close as both Philadelphia and Colorado are in heated wild card races in their respective conferences. Entering the contest, Philadelphia remains at the top of the Eastern Conference wild card standings with 90 points and five games remaining on the schedule. After Monday's loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and a St. Louis Blues win on Tuesday, the Avalanche fell out of the wild card positions in the Western Conference with 90 points and six games left in its regular season.

Player To Watch

Colorado: Left Wing Blake Comeau
The 32-year-old left wing has tallied seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last 10 contests and three points (one goal, two assists) in his last five. Comeau also tallied a goal in the season's earlier matchup against the Flyers on Nov. 4. The winger has 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) on the year.
Philadelphia: Center Claude Giroux
The Flyers' first-round pick in 2006 has had quite the year for Philadelphia and is in the running for the Art Ross Trophy with 92 points (26 goals, 66 assists). Claude Giroux leads his club in points and assists and is second on the team in goals. The Flyers captain is one point shy of tying his career best in points and has nine helpers in his last five games and 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in the month of March.

The Details

Puck drop for Wednesday night's contest is slated for 8 p.m. MT. The game can be watched live on Altitude TV and can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio AM 950 or at ColoradoAvalanche.com.