Eurolanche

Avalanche aim to continue strong run

Season series: The Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche will play at American Airlines Arena after the Avalanche won the first two games in Denver. Alex Tanguay's goal and two assists sparked Colorado to a 5-2 win on Nov. 29. Nathan MacKinnon's goal with 8.4 seconds left in the second period broke a 2-2 tie to lead the Avalanche to a 4-3 victory on Jan. 10 behind 37 saves from goalie Semyon Varlamov.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado is tied with Dallas (53 points) in the Western Conference standings and has used an 8-3-3 run in its past 14 games to compete for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "It's a big month for us," coach Patrick Roy told the Avalanche website. "We're going to start [Tuesday] night with a big test. It's going to be a heck of a battle to the end. Every night is a nice challenge and I think it's good for a fan perspective." Tanguay practiced Monday wearing a bandage to protect a bruised left hand sustained after absorbing a slap shot during a win Friday against the Nashville Predators. Forward Jarome Iginla sat out with a leg bruise also sustained Friday but like Tanguay is expected to play. Iginla earned the 1,200th point of his career Friday and leads the Avalanche with 16 goals.

Stars team scope: Dallas scored four power-play goals in a 5-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. The Stars are 6-for-11 with the man advantage in their past two games and 9-for-29 in their past six, and have benefitted from rookie John Klingberg's work on the point of the first unit. Klingberg, named the NHL Rookie of the Month for January, became the first defenseman in franchise history to score four points in one game, and is second among first-year defensemen in points (24) and first with a plus-9 rating. Forward Erik Cole (upper body), who has not played since Jan. 20, practiced Monday. Coach Lindy Ruff hopes he will be available for this game, but no decision has been made. Defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League.

-by Jon Lane for NHL-