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High-scoring Avalanche aim for third straight win

Dec 12, 2007 - 2:32 PM Colorado (16-12-1) at Columbus (13-11-6) 7:00 pm EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) - The Colorado Avalanche do not seem to miss Joe Sakic too much.

Colorado will try and continue its offensive surge against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.

Sakic, who is the franchise's all-time leading scorer, has missed the last five games because of a groin injury. Despite the absence of Sakic, Colorado has won two straight and exploded for a 9-5 victory over St. Louis on Sunday.

Milan Hejduk has been leading the offensive charge. The ninth-year right wing scored in each period to record his fifth career hat trick in the win. He has a seven-game point streak and has tallied seven goals and seven assists in that span.

But Hejduk and the Avalanche will face a stern test against one of the best goaltenders in the league. Pascal Leclaire, who leads the league with six shutouts, is 10-6-3 with a 2.02 goals-against average.

Leclaire will try to rebound after a disappointing performance on Monday in which he allowed four goals - including a penalty shot - to Anaheim in a 4-3 overtime loss.

Leclaire has not won in his last five starts, mostly because the Blue Jackets have failed to produce offensively. Columbus' 77 goals rank fifth-worst in the Western Conference.