Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Colorado Avalanche (28-12-5, 61 points) and Chicago Blackhawks (30-8-10, 70 points) faceoff live from the United Center in Chicago for the third of five meetings against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. Colorado fans can hear all of the hard-hitting action on KRWZ 950 while Chicago fans can do the same on 720 WGN.
Colorado has won five of its last seven games while Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak last time out but has lost four of its last six games. These teams have split the first two meetings with the Avalanche notching a 5-1 win in Colorado on Nov. 19 and the Blackhawks earning a 7-2 victory in Chicago on Dec. 27.
The Blackhawks ended their three-game skid with a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday but realize their next three games will be tough.
"It was nice that we played the right way [against Edmonton]," coach Joel Quenneville said per NHL.com. "It will certainly give us confidence in the later stages of games. The next three games are all big tests for us and we want to make sure we have a real good homestand here. It could put us back in a better spot."
The Avalanche defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Saturday to increase their lead over them in the standings as the two teams continue to race for the final playoff spot.
"We want to keep them as far behind us as possible, and we're just going to keep on plugging away," center Matt Duchene told the Denver Post. "I think we're happy with where we're at right now, but we've just got to keep continuing to be hungry and don't change our mentality."
Duchene leads the Avalanche with 39 points off of 16 goals and 23 assists while Gabriel Landeskog has nine points in his last 10 games and 13 tallies and 22 helpers for 35 points and Paul Stastny has found the twine 13 times and added 21 assists for 34 points but is sidelined with a leg injury.
Patrick Kane has paced the Blackhawks with 56 points off of 23 markers and 33 assists while Patrick Sharp has lit the lamp 25 times and added 24 helpers for 49 points and Jonathan Toews is on a six-game point streak and has found the back of the net 17 times and added 30 assists for 47 points.
Semyon Varlamov is likely to start for Colorado and is 21-8-5 with a 2.35 GAA and a .926 save percentage while Corey Crawford is the probable starter for Chicago and is 17-7-6 with a 2.47 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
The Avalanche hope to keep up their strong play as of late while the Blackhawks will look to continue their turnaround after a recent swoon when the puck drops tonight at the United Center in Chicago.
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