Avalanche at Senators
The Ottawa Senators are buried in last place in the Eastern Conference but could be getting a pair of key pieces back in the lineup for Wednesday night's game against the visiting Colorado Avalanche. All-Star defenseman Thomas Chabot and center Matt Duchene are expected to play for Ottawa, which will try to end a string of five consecutive losses at home.
The Senators are 2-8-1 over their last 11 games, posting both wins on their just-concluded three-game road trip through California. Chabot has been sidelined for the past eight games due to an upper-body injury while Duchene, acquired from Colorado in November 2017, missed the West Coast trip to be with his wife for the birth of their child. The Avalanche enter the final stop of a five-game road trip off a 6-3 win at Toronto that ended a three-game slide and was only their second victory in 11 games (2-7-2). "I think we played pretty good from the start," Colorado forward Carl Soderberg said after notching his first career hat trick. "Glad we could get the win here tonight."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), TVAS, Sportsnet (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (21-17-8): While Colorado rallied from an early two-goal deficit against Toronto thanks to a pair of goals from its high-powered No. 1 line, coach Jared Bednar loved what he saw from the newly reconfigured unit of Soderberg flanked by J.T. Compher and Colin Wilson. Soderberg had collected only two goals and two assists in his previous 16 games prior to Tuesday's eruption. "He had a great game, all around, both sides of the puck," Bednar said of Soderberg. "I just thought he was in the right spot all night long. I was really happy with how that line played."
ABOUT THE SENATORS (17-24-5): Duchene, who spent eight-plus seasons with the Avalanche, was on a tear prior to his hiatus, scoring in three consecutive games and collecting six goals in his past eight. Ottawa went 2-5-1 in the absence of Chabot, who was second in scoring among NHL defensemen with 38 points when he was injured on Dec. 28. "He brings that element where you can transition, have the puck more often, you're attacking more often, you're less in your zone because you've got the puck and that's what a guy like Chabot does," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "He's going to be a top-end guy."
OVERTIME
1. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has four goals and seven points in his last five games.
2. Senators G Craig Anderson, out the past eight games with a concussion, could be back this weekend.
3. Colorado leading scorer Mikko Rantanen has 45 points over the past 30 games.