Ducks at Avalanche
The red-hot Colorado Avalanche will make a quick stop home as they return from a three-game road trip to host the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, before heading right back out for three contests on the west coast. The Avalanche are riding a season-best seven-game win streak, but are scoring the fourth-fewest goals per game in the league during their run (2.29).
The Avalanche skated to their sixth straight one goal victory with a 2-1 triumph over the league-worst Detroit Red Wings on Monday, but were without rookie defenseman and second-leading scorer Cale Makar (12 goals, 47 points in 56 games), who participated in warmups but was a late scratch. “It was a good way to cap off the road trip,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog told reporters Monday after his assist on Logan O’Connor’s game-winner extended his season-best point streak to five games. “This was just a next shift mentality, next line up mentality. Just keep moving forward and doing the little things.” The Ducks fell to 2-5-1 in their last eight games after opening a brief two-game road trip with a 6-2 setback against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Neither goaltender for Anaheim will be fully rested on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday as John Gibson was pulled after allowing five goals on 24 shots against the Blackhawks, while veteran Ryan Miller came on in relief to stop 15-of-16 shots.
TIME: 9:30 p.m. ET. TV: NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE DUCKS (26-32-8): Danton Heinen scored Tuesday for the second time in four games since being acquired at the trade deadline from Boston, where he had seven goals and 15 assists in 58 games this season. Captain Ryan Getzlaf has registered two goals and three assists in his last 15 games but leads the team with 27 assists and 40 points overall while also owning a team-worst minus-16 rating. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm (two goals, 22 assists) is questionable Wednesday after missing the past three with an upper-body injury while the team’s top scoring defenseman Cam Fowler (nine goals, 20 assists) has missed the last seven contests and is expected to be out at least another two weeks with a lower-body injury.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (40-18-7): Colorado’s win streak coincides with leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon’s season-worst seven-game goal drought as the 24-year-old sports a team-best 33 tallies in 65 games, but has just three in his last 16. Goaltender Pavel Francouz will start his first game since being named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week, as the Czech Republic native boasts a .957 save percentage and 1.32 goals against while winning a career-high six straight starts. Playing for his third team this season, 27-year-old forward Vladislav Namestnikov scored his first goal in four games with the Avalanche on Monday after netting 13 in 54 contests with Ottawa and being shut out in his first two outings of the season with the New York Rangers.
OVERTIME
1. The road team has won each of the previous two meetings this season with Anaheim earning a 5-2 triumph on Oct. 26 while Francouz recorded his first career shutout during a 1-0 contest on Feb. 21.
2. Ducks LW Rickard Rakell has one assist in his last 10 games and is without a goal in his last 15.
3. Avalanche G Michael Hutchinson celebrated his 30th birthday Monday by making 17 saves in his first start with the team since being acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline.