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Avs welcome Red Wings to Mile High City

Dec 27, 2010 - 4:24 PM (Sports Network) - The Colorado Avalanche will try to avoid a third straight setback and take back some home-ice advantage back from the Detroit Red Wings with this evening's meeting at the Pepsi Center.

The Avalanche have lost back-to-back games to Los Angeles and Minnesota since a season-best six-game win streak. A 5-0 setback to the Kings last Tuesday ended the run and Colorado failed to get on track two nights later, falling to the Wild, 3-1.

Colorado is now 2-2 on a five-game homestand.

The Avalanche unleashed 37 shots on the Wild and goaltender Niklas Backstrom, but David Jones' first goal in 11 games was the lone tally of the game for Colorado.

"You've got to give him credit, he played great," said Jones of Backstrom. "At the end of the third period, we were peppering him pretty good and he stood in there. It's going to be tough to win a game with one goal so we've got to do a better job."

Craig Anderson allowed three goals on just 14 shots before getting pulled in the second period. Peter Budaj ended the contest by turning away all 18 shots he faced in relief.

Budaj has been in net for both of Colorado's games versus the Red Wings -- both in Detroit -- this season and will get the start tonight, his first since Dec. 4. He made 34 saves in a 5-4 shootout win on Oct. 12, a game that featured two goals from Jones, and then made 22 stops in a 3-1 setback on Nov. 13.

Budaj is 4-4-1 with a 2.93 goals-against average versus Detroit lifetime.

Detroit, though, has won three of its last four over Colorado and nine of the last 12 played in Denver.

Jimmy Howard has made 45 saves in the two games for the Red Wings versus the Avs, but Chris Osgood is expected to take a third crack at becoming the 10th player in NHL history to reach 400 wins. Osgood has allowed eight goals in his last two starts (0-1-1) and is 10-8-3 with three ties and a 2.67 GAA lifetime versus Colorado.

Howard got the start last night in Minnesota and needed to make only 16 saves in a 4-1 victory. Dan Cleary added his team-leading 16th goal of the season, but will miss the next month of action due to a fractured left ankle suffered when hit by a shot from a teammate.

Detroit is already without Pavel Datsyuk, who is tied for the club lead with 27 assists but is also expected to miss four weeks of action due to a broken hand suffered less than a week ago.

Henrik Zetterberg scored a goal and notched an assist for the Red Wings, who have won two of their last three to remain atop of the Western Conference with 48 points. Zetterberg has three goals and four assists in his last three games as well as four tallies and 11 helpers in his last 10.

"We had sticks in front of the net all night," Howard said. "We deflected shots from all sides and guys did a good job cutting off wings and not letting them have shots."

Detroit has split the first two contests of a four-game road trip and is 9-5-1 as the guest this season.

While the Red Wings come into this game hobbled, the Avalanche are expected to get a pair of players back from groin injuries in Milan Hejduk and Cody McLeod.

Hejduk has been out since Dec. 10, missing the last seven games, while McLeod has sat out the last three contests. Both skaters practiced on Sunday.