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AVALANCHE (34-29-12) at BLACKHAWKS (32-32-10)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV

Colorado, which holds the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference, has won four straight after going 2-5-0 in its previous seven games. The Avalanche are one point ahead of the Arizona Coyotes and Minnesota Wild and two points behind the Dallas Stars for the first wild card.
Chicago, which is six points behind Colorado after losing the first game of a home-and-home with the Avalanche 4-2 on Saturday, has eight games remaining in the regular season and has lost three straight (0-2-1) after a five-game winning streak.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Colin Wilson has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak after scoring a goal and an assist on Saturday.
Blackhawks defenseman Erik Gustafsson has a three-game goal streak and is tied with Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames for second in goals (16) among defensemen behind Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs (20).

They said it

"We need everybody stepping up in these big games. We've checked well and because we are playing such good defense, it's leading to offense. Most of this group went through the same thing last year. We were fighting for a playoff spot for the last month or two. We know what it takes and this past week we've been putting together games that are good enough to get wins." -- Avalanche forward J.T. Compher
''Every game has been a must-win here, so . . . whatever you want to call it, it's a huge two points. We've [need to] have our best game of the year every game going forward. So now we turn the page and try to have our best game (Sunday), starting in the first five minutes.'' -- Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith

Avalanche projected lineup
Blackhawks projected lineup
Status report

Rantanen missed his first game of the season Saturday and won't play Sunday. Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he is day to day.

Stat pack

Grubauer is 5-1-0 with a 1.01 goals-against average, .968 save percentage and two shutouts in his past six starts. … MacKinnon has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past nine games. … Toews has three points (two goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak and 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists) in his past 25 games. … Kane has eight points (one goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games after he had 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in his previous 22.