It is two surging teams that are getting ready to clash in Denver tonight. The Flames have won five of their last six and are off back-to-back 6-3 wins on home ice against first the Ducks and most recently the Maple Leafs last night. They'll be up for a tougher challenge tonight though, coming to the Rocky Mountains to face off against the Colorado Avalanche that have won four of their last five. Calgary has given up a fair amount of goals of late but found a way to outscore its opponents. I highly doubt that will be possible here as goals will come at a premium against one of the hottest netminders in the NHL.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Goaltending - The Avs Semyon Varlamov is off four straight wins over which he has allowed only three goals. He has been dominant all season long, particularly at Pepsi Center where he has a 14-8-1 record with a 2.20 GAA to show for it. The Flames are likely to counter with Karri Ramo who has been putting up less than impressive performances of late despite going 2-0-1 over his last three outings. He's conceded 10 goals over those games, and gave up four over only 27 minutes of ice time at Ottawa his last time out on the road.

2. Special Teams - The Flames have scored an impressive 27 goals over their last six games with seven of those coming on the man advantage. They might struggle to keep up with those numbers tonight coming up against a Colorado penalty kill that has allowed only one goal over its last 10 games and ranks among the best in the NHL.

3. X-Factor - Ryan O'Reilly is second on the Avs with his 30 assists on the season. He's already set up four goals over his first five games in March and assisted two of the Avs three goals when they lost 4-3 at Calgary earlier in the season.

Selection: This is a play on the Colorado Avalanche (10*)