(My Sportsbook) - The Western Conference's hottest team makes its way to Denver's Pepsi Center this evening, where the
Colorado Avalanche host a
Dallas Stars squad riding a season-best five-game win streak.
Dallas kept up its torrid pace with a 3-1 ousting of Northwest Division leader Calgary Tuesday at the American Airlines Center. James Neal and Brad Richards each posted a goal and an assist to back a 24-save performance from a resurgent Marty Turco as the Stars extended their longest tear since ripping off seven straight victories from January 29-February 11, 2008.
Turco has been instrumental in Dallas' recent run, as the veteran goaltender has yielded just seven goals (a 1.40 GAA) and amassed a stellar .950 save percentage during the team's winning streak.
The Stars have outscored the opposition by a 20-7 margin over the last five games and have moved into a sixth-place tie with Minnesota in the Western Conference standings with their surge.
Jere Lehtinen also had a goal in Tuesday's triumph to extend his scoring streak to five games (3 goals, 2 assists). Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott each had assists on the night and have also notched a point in each of the last five tilts.
Ribeiro has three goals and five assists during his run, while Ott has compiled three goals and four assists.
Colorado has been headed in the opposition direction of Dallas as of late, but the team did pick up a much-needed win on Monday. Marek Svatos had two goals and an assist to lead the way in a 4-3 victory over Calgary at the Pepsi Center, which halted a string of four straight losses for the Avalanche.
The Avs, who had dropped seven of its last eight contests coming in, also got goals from Milan Hejduk and Ruslan Salei and 36 saves from netminder Peter Budaj.
Colorado will be wrapping up a disappointing eight-game homestand this evening in which the club has gone just 2-5-0 thus far. The Avalanche are 15-13-0 at the Pepsi Center for the season.
These teams have split two meetings so far this season, both of which were held in Dallas. The Stars left with losses in both of their visits to Denver during the 2007-08 campaign, but had won four straight regular-season matchups as the visitor in this series prior to those defeats.
