Tue Feb 12 12:00:33 2008

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Ducks end record trek in Colorado

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(Sports Network) - The Ducks have recovered nicely on their current franchise- record nine-game road trip. However, one major hurdle remains as Anaheim goes for its first win in Colorado in over five years when it battles the Avalanche tonight at the Pepsi Center.

Anaheim dropped the first four tests of its trip, but has since defeated the New York Islanders, Rangers, Devils and Red Wings. All four of those victories have come with Teemu Selanne on the ice after the forward decided not to retire and instead rejoined the club for the rest of this season.

Selanne has only two assists in four games so far. Rookie Ryan Carter has been hot over the last two games. After going without a goal over his first 27 NHL games, Carter scored twice in Friday's win over New Jersey and he found the back of the net again on Sunday in a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings.

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider had a goal and an assist, as Detroit had a goal disallowed with 40 seconds left in the contest.

With Detroit putting on the offensive pressure and the goaltender pulled in favor of the extra attacker in the closing seconds, Nicklas Lidstrom's slap shot from the point got past Jean-Sebastien Giguere for what would have been the tying goal. However, Tomas Holmstrom was whistled for goaltender interference and the goal was waved off.

Kent Huskins also tallied for Anaheim, while Giguere stopped 27 shots for his third straight victory. Giguere was named the NHL's third star on Monday after posting a 1.01 goals-against average and a .966 save percentage. That run included his fourth shutout of the season last Tuesday versus the Islanders.

Giguere is just 5-10-1 with two ties in 20 career games versus Colorado, posting a 2.31 GAA in that span.

The Ducks, 15-15-3 on the road this year, are tied with San Jose for second in the Pacific Division, six points behind first-place Dallas.

Anaheim posted a 2-1 overtime win at home over Colorado on December 19 after losing three of four against the club in each of the past two seasons. The Ducks have lost six straight on the road against the Avalanche, having not won in Colorado since January 9, 2003.

Colorado returns home tonight after taking two straight on the road. That includes a 6-2 victory in Vancouver on Saturday. Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos each scored a pair of goals in the win.

Tyler Arnason and Brett Clark also tallied for the Avalanche, who have won four of their last six. The Avs are second in the Northwest Division, three points behind Minnesota.

With Colorado still battling injuries, Arnason and T.J. Hensick have been red- hot over their last four games. Arnason has two goals and six assists in that span, while Hensick notched an assist on Saturday to give him five goals and one assist over his last four.

Wojtek Wolski picked up three assists and Jose Theodore was strong in net, making 23 stops for his 15th win of the season. Theodore is 3-0-0 in his last three starts, matching his longest win streak of the season. He last won four straight from October 31-November 8, 2005 with Montreal.

The Avalanche are getting very close to getting healthy though. It was thought that Paul Stastny would be able to return on Saturday after missing nine straight games due to an appendectomy he underwent in mid-January, but he did not play.

He is questionable for tonight, though Stastny, who leads the club with 49 points and 32 assists, was at practice on Monday, as was Ryan Smyth (broken right ankle) and Joe Sakic (hernia surgery).

Colorado plays the first of back-to-back home games tonight and own the NHL's second-best home mark at 18-8-2 despite having lost three of its last four at the Pepsi Center.