A 9:00pm ET puck drop...

via Brian Hedger at NHL.com,

TV: NBCSN, SN360, FS-D

Season series: Jarome Iginla scored in the top half of the ninth round to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Dec. 31. Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk and Colorado's Erik Johnson each scored in the third period.

Red Wings team scope: Detroit, which hasn't played since defeating the New York Islanders 4-1 at home on Saturday, are 8-2-0 in their past 10 games and in a tight race atop the Atlantic Division with the Montreal Canadiens (67 points) and Tampa Bay Lightning (69 points). Captain Henrik Zetterberg returned to center the top line in practice Wednesday in Denver after staying off the ice for a maintenance day Tuesday. Coach Mike Babcock said goalie Petr Mrazek will start. Goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who's been out since Nov. 7 with a shoulder injury, will join them in Denver. Goalie Jimmy Howard (groin) hopes to return against the Pittsburgh Penguins next Wednesday. Forward Johan Franzen (upper body) didn't practice and remains out indefinitely.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado was within four points of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference after a 3-2 shootout win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. It was the Avalanche's second win in a row and third in the past four games, and they are 4-1-3 in the past eight. They trailed 2-0 entering the third period and won on Maxime Talbot's 11th-round goal on his first NHL shootout attempt. Defenseman Zach Redmond continues to play in the top pairing alongside Jan Hejda while Johnson recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. Coach Patrick Roy said that allows him to keep the other two pairings intact.