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Avs try to snap slide with rare victory over Canucks

Jan 30, 2013 - 3:47 PM (Sports Network) - It's been nearly three years since the Colorado Avalanche tasted victory in Vancouver, but they have a chance to end that drought on Wednesday when they visit the Canucks at Rogers Arena.

Colorado has lost six in a row in British Columbia since a shootout win over the Canucks on April 6, 2010. The Avalanche have lost seven straight and 15 of the last 17 overall games in this series.

The teams met six times in 2011-12 and Vancouver outscored the Avs by a 19-5 margin.

Both the Canucks and Avalanche enter Wednesday's Northwest Division battle on two-game losing streaks. Colorado has scored only one goal over the two-game drought, dropping games in San Jose and Edmonton by a combined 8-1 score.

Colorado has lost consecutive games at the start of a four-game road trip and the Avs are 0-3-0 as the guest this season. The most recent setback came in Monday's loss to the Oilers, who victimized Colorado for four power-play goals in a 4-1 decision.

"We want to play hard between the whistles, we want to be hard in the trenches, but we have to stay out of the box," said Colorado head coach Joe Sacco.

PA Parenteau scored the lone goal for the Avalanche, who got 23 saves from Semyon Varlamov.

Colorado has been outscored 12-3 in dropping all three road games this season. The penalty kill has been especially dreadful on the road, surrendering nine goals on 19 of its opponent's power-play opportunities.

Also, team captain Gabriel Landeskog missed the first game of his career Monday due to head and leg injuries. The reigning Calder Trophy winner was hurt Saturday when he absorbed a check by Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart in Colorado's 4-0 setback at San Jose. As of yet, there is no timetable for the Swedish forward's return to game action.

Colorado will complete its road trip Thursday night in Calgary.

After losing in San Jose on Sunday, the Canucks were handed a shootout loss the following night in Los Angeles. Jeff Carter's third-round shootout goal lifted the Kings to the 3-2 victory in a rematch of a 2012 playoff series.

After the first four shooters missed, Carter switched to his backhand and lifted a shot high over a sprawling Roberto Luongo. Zack Kassian had a chance to send the shootout to a fourth round, but his backhand attempt missed the net and the Kings escaped with the victory.

Vancouver led the game 2-0 at one point, but the Kings clawed their way back and eventually tied the game on Slava Voynov's marker with 44 seconds left in the third.

Kassian and Alexandre Burrows each scored once to stake Vancouver to the early lead. Luongo allowed two goals on 28 shots for the Canucks, who entered last year's postseason as the top seed before being bounced in the first round by the eventual champion Kings in five games.

"Roberto gave us a chance," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "We emptied the tank tonight. When you get the effort that we had tonight, you think you should win."

The Canucks have gone 0-for-10 on the power play over the last two games, but Colorado seems like the perfect opponent to help them reverse that trend.