Senators at Avalanche
A Central Division title appeared out of reach for Colorado just under a month ago, but the Avalanche have won seven of eight to close within three points of first-place St. Louis with two games in hand. After wrapping up a stellar road trip, the surging Avalanche kick off a five-game homestand against the skidding Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
Colorado allowed a combined five goals in winning the final four contests of its five-game trek, including a 4-1 victory at Ottawa last Thursday. "Happy with the way we're playing right now," captain Gabriel Landeskog said after Sunday's 3-2 win at Minnesota. "And now we've got to convert this the way we've been playing on the road to home ice and make sure we get a jump here at Pepsi Center." While the Avalanche won three straight to complete a 3-0-2 homestand entering the All-Star break, the Senators have dropped five in a row and have won only twice in 17 games (2-8-7) since Christmas. "We might have lost a little bit of our confidence offensively," Jean-Gabriel Pageau said after Saturday's 5-2 loss in Winnipeg. “Just to get back at it, we have to get back to what we’re doing simply by putting lots of pucks on nets and winning the (one-on-one) battles.”
TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: Altitude, RDS, TSN5
ABOUT THE SENATORS (18-26-11): Ottawa has scored only nine goals during its five-game slide (0-3-2) and did not provide much resistance against Colorado last week, allowing the first 13 shots on goal. “We’re going to have to be more intense,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "They are the best break-out team in the league for a reason, but we’ve got to do a better job.” Forward Brady Tkachuk scored the only goal and had game highs with seven shots on net and 10 hits versus the Avalanche before collecting an assist in Saturday's loss to Winnipeg.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (32-16-6): Cale Makar, who scored one goal and set up another at Ottawa, has points in four straight games and seven of eight to become the second rookie defenseman in franchise history to reach 30 assists in a season. Nathan MacKinnon, the team leader in goals (32), assists (44) and points (76), also has a four-game streak while scoring goals in each of the last two contests. Forward Nazem Kadri was expected to be evaluated Monday after exiting Sunday's game versus the Wild due to a lower-body injury.
OVERTIME
1. Avalanche G Philipp Grubauer has allowed three goals during his three-start winning streak.
2. Pageau has scored 13 of his career-high 21 goals on the road.
3. MacKinnon converted on the power play at Minnesota, reaching double digits with the man advantage for the third straight season.