It was a weird night for the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. They played poorly but managed to just barely eke out a win in Chicago. Then, a storm system prevented their plane from leaving on schedule, and they got stuck in the Windy City. They got a night in a hotel, but they had to fly to Columbus this morning for tonight’s contest with a Blue Jackets team that’s been resting and waiting for the Avs to arrive.

Both teams come into the game 3-2 in their last five games. However, that number is disappointing for a Colorado team locked into the three seed in the Central and struggling to muster the will to take down lesser teams with more to play for. At the same time, Columbus can be proud of the way they’ve been battling to stay alive in the chase for an Eastern Conference wildcard spot.

For the Avs, this will be their third game against a team that is playing desperate hockey to keep their playoff hopes alive in their last four. The previous two did not end well, as St. Louis and Calgary both outworked and outscored the Burgundy and Blue. They’ll need to find a way to lock in their best effort for this game to overcome their travel woes on a weather-complicated back-to-back and the motivation gap between them and a Columbus team with everything on the line.

Colorado Avalanche:

Artturi Lehkonen (62) — Nathan MacKinnon (29) — Valeri Nichushkin (13) Ross Colton (20) — Brock Nelson (11) — Martin Necas (88)Joel Kiviranta (94) — Charlie Coyle (10) — Logan O’Connor (25)

Parker Kelly (17) — Jack Drury (18) — Jimmy Vesey (26)*

Devon Toews (7) — Cale Makar (8)Ryan Lindgren (55) — Sam Malinski (70)

Keaton Middleton (67) — Erik Johnson (6)

Mackenzie Blackwood (39)

Scott Wedgewood (41)

*pencilling in Vesey for Jonathan Drouin, since Drouin missed two periods last night after a knee on knee hit from Nick Foligno.

Columbus Blue Jackets:

Dmitri Voronkov (10) — Sean Monahan (23) — Kirill Marchenko (86)Boone Jenner (38) — Adam Fantilli (19) — Kent Johnson (91)Cole Sillinger (4) — Justin Danforth (17) — Mathieu Olivier (24)

Zach Aston-Reese (27) — Sean Kuraly (7) — Luke Kunin (11)

Zach Werenski (8) — Dante Fabbro (15)Denton Mateychuk (5) — Ivan Provorov (9)

Jake Christiansen (2) — Jack Johnson (3)

Elvis Merzlikins (90)

Daniil Tarasov (40)

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