Avs host Flames looking for fourth straight win

Looking for their fourth straight win, the Colorado Avalanche host the Calgary Flames Wednesday at the Pepsi Center. Game time is 7 PM. The TV broadcast will be on Altitude. 1510 AM will have the radio broadcast.

This will be the fifth of six games between these Northwest Division rivals. The Avs have won the previous four, all by 3-2 scores. The sixth game will be April 2nd in Denver.

Calgary Flames 34-26-9 77 points Last 10 games 5-5-0
3rd in Northwest Division
9th in Western Conference

The Flames, who battled the Avs for the Northwest Division title earlier this season, are now fighting just to make the playoffs. After winning four straight, the Flames have dropped their last two, scoring just one goal in each game.

Jarome Iginla leads the Flames in scoring with 64 points. Matt Stajan is second with 49 points.
Mikka Kiprusoff is Calgary’s top goalie. His record is 30-22-9. Backing him up is Vesa Toskala, who has a record of 8-12-3.

Colorado Avalanche 40-23-6 86 points Last 10 games 6-4-0
2nd in Northwest Division
5th in Western Conference

Colorado comes into this game on a three game winning streak, the latest a 5-3 victory Tuesday over the St. Louis Blues. A victory Wednesday would move the Avs within one point of idle Vancouver in the Northwest Division.

Leading scorer for the Avalanche is Paul Stastny with 69 points. Second is Chris Stewart with 57 points.
Peter Mueller has been hot for the Avs since being acquired from Phoenix at the trade deadline. He has 11 points in his 7 games with Colorado.

Craig Anderson is scheduled to start in goal for the Avs. He sat out Tuesday’s game against the Blues, ending a 23 game starting streak. His record is 35-19-5.

NOTES
-The Avalanche/Nordiques are 10-5-1 all time on St. Patricks Day.
-Chris Stewart has scored 15 points in his last 8 games.
-Coming into Wednesday’s game the Avalanche have 301 man-games missed to injury.

Bruce Wilkie is a Colorado semi-native, having moved to Denver in 1971. He has worked with pro and college hockey teams since 1975 and now covers the Avs for thehockeywriters.com.