Colorado @ Anaheim preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 18, 2018 ) Colorado 4, Anaheim 3

The Colorado Avalanche are among a group of teams in a tight race for the two Western Conference wild-card spots as they visit the struggling Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Colorado had its six-game point streak snapped (5-0-1) with a 4-3 loss at San Jose on Friday and hopes to start faster against Anaheim, which plummeted out of playoff contention by going 5-21-4 in its last 30 games.

"The first two periods were a little on and off for us,'' Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog told reporters Friday after recording three assists. "We couldn't get to the neutral zone, but in the third we really took over and started playing, winning battles and shooting the puck. The third period is certainly something we can take with us." The Ducks have lost five straight after Friday's 3-0 loss to Vegas as Anaheim goaltender John Gibson made 31 saves in his first contest since missing nine with a concussion. "They're doing a lot of the right things," assistant coach Marty Wilford told reporters about his Ducks. "All you can continue to do is show them the positive stuff they're doing." Colorado won the first of three meetings this season 4-3 on Nov. 18 in Anaheim on Mikko Rantanen's overtime goal as the Avalanche's top three scorers - Nathan MacKinnon, Landeskog and Rantanen - combined for three goals and eight points.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FS West (Anaheim)

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (28-25-12): Rantanen shares the team lead in points (82) with MacKinnon after extending his point streak to six games (four goals, two assists) with a goal Friday. MacKinnon and Landeskog own a club-most 33 goals apiece with the former totaling five points (three goals) in his last four games and the latter accumulating 10 points (three goals) in the past seven contests. Defenseman Ian Cole returned Friday after missing 11 games with a broken left orbital bone and recorded an assist along with three blocked shots in 20 minutes, 16 seconds of ice time.

ABOUT THE DUCKS (24-32-9): Corey Perry (two goals, four points, minus-11 in 14 contests this season) played his 971st game Friday, tying him with captain Ryan Getzlaf for the franchise lead. Rickard Rakell (nine goals, team-worst minus-22) continues to struggle after scoring a total of 67 goals in his last two seasons as his scoring drought reached 12 games Friday. Jakob Silfverberg (team-high 16 goals, tied for 108th in the league entering Saturday) hasn't scored in the last five games after tallying four times in four contests.

OVERTIME

1. Getzlaf (team-high 39 points, tied for 117th in the league) has missed the last five games because of an upper-body injury.

2. Colorado, which is 13-12-6 at home and 15-13-6 on the road, plays 10 of its final 16 games in Denver.

3. The Ducks have allowed a power-play goal in each of their last three games while 0-for-8 with the man advantage in their past five.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 3, Ducks 2