Colorado Avalanche (35-7-9) @ Montreal Canadiens (29-17-7)<\/p>\n
5 p.m. MT | Centre Bell | Watch: Altitude, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (950 AM)<\/p>\n
The Avalanche concludes the Canadian portion of its four-game road trip against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. This matchup will feature a nod to an old provincial rivalry, as the Avs will don its Quebec Nordiques Heritage Jerseys. This is the second and final regular-season meeting between the teams, as the Avs defeated the Canadiens 7-2 in Denver on November 29th.<\/p>\n
Latest Result (COL): COL 2, OTT 5<\/p>\n
Latest Result (MTL): VGK 2, MTL 3 (OT)<\/p>\n
Defeat in Ottawa<\/p>\n
The Avalanche lost to the Ottawa Senators 5-2 at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday. Parker Kelly and Valeri Nichushkin each scored a goal for the Avs, while Brock Nelson, Keaton Middleton and Jack Drury all posted an assist. Ottawa\u2019s Nick Cousins opened the scoring at 3:21 of the second period with a backhand shot from the right doorstep off the rush. At 14:05 of the middle frame, Kelly tied the game with his 11th goal of the season via a shot from the slot set up by Nelson\u2019s feed. Ridly Greig gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead with a shot from the slot off the rush at 14:22 of the middle frame. The Senators took a 3-1 lead at 2:06 of the third period when Claude Giroux scored via a right-circle shot off the rush. Nichushkin made it a 3-2 game at 3:30 of the third period with his 12th goal of the season via a net-front backhand shot set up by Drury, who started the play after intercepting a pass in the offensive zone. Ottawa took a 5-2 lead after empty-net tallies from Brady Tkachuk at 17:44 and Tim Stutzle at 18:53.<\/p>\n
Leading the Way
\nNate the Great<\/p>\n
Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL in goals (38), is second in points (88) and fourth in assists (50).<\/p>\n
All Hail Cale<\/p>\n
Among NHL defensemen, Makar is tied for second in points (56), third in goals (15) and fourth in assists (41).<\/p>\n
Marty Party<\/p>\n
Martin Necas is tied for 10th in the NHL in points (62).<\/p>\n
Series History<\/p>\n
In 155 previous regular-season games against the Canadiens, the Avalanche\/Nordiques franchise has a record of 65-74-16. The two franchises have met in the playoffs five times, including the 1985 Adams Division Finals that saw the Nordiques defeat the Canadiens in seven games.<\/p>\n
Two Points on Tuesday<\/p>\n
The Canadiens defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in overtime at Centre Bell on Tuesday. In the first period, Vegas opened the scoring with a goal from Pavel Dorofeyev at 8:38. The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead after second-period goals from Phillip Danault at 4:24 and Cole Caufield at 8:55. Dorofeyev tied the game for Vegas at 16:52 of the third period. In overtime, Jake Evans scored the game-winning goal for Montreal at 3:58.<\/p>\n
Contributors Against the Canadiens<\/p>\n
MacKinnon has posted 20 points (8g\/12a) in 20 games against the Canadiens.<\/p>\n
In 10 contests against Montreal, Makar has registered 11 points (2g\/9a).<\/p>\n
Brock Nelson has recorded 31 points (20g\/11a) in 33 games against the Canadiens.<\/p>\n
Les Habitants\u2019 Leaders<\/p>\n
Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens in points (59), is second in assists (43) and tied for third in goals (16).<\/p>\n
Caufield leads the Canadiens in goals (30), is second in points (54) and fourth in assists (24).<\/p>\n
Lane Hutson leads the Canadiens in assists (44) and is third in points (53).<\/p>\n
A Numbers Game
\n.714<\/p>\n
Colorado has posted a .714 points percentage (4-1-2 record) in the second game of a back-to-back this season.<\/p>\n
85.1<\/p>\n
The Avalanche\u2019s 85.1% penalty kill on the road is the fifth highest in the NHL.<\/p>\n
79<\/p>\n
Colorado\u2019s 79 five-on-five goals against are tied for the fewest in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Quote That Left a Mark<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it\u2019s a guy who\u2019s continually getting better in all areas and helps our team a lot. So, I think the contract is very well-deserved, and hopefully he can continue to grow his game even more.\u201d<\/p>\n
— Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar on the four-year contract Sam Malinski signed on Tuesday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado Avalanche (35-7-9) @ Montreal Canadiens (29-17-7) 5 p.m. MT | Centre Bell | Watch: Altitude, Altitude+ |…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-445281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}