Jets at Avalanche
THE STORY: The Colorado Avalanche are so hot, they can even win on
the road – right off the plane. The Avalanche will look for their fifth
straight victory – and ninth in a row at home – when they meet the
Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. Colorado, which won its first six games of the
season on the road, snapped a nine-game road slide with a 4-2 victory
at Minnesota on Monday in a game which started about six hours after the
Avalanche landed in Minnesota. Winnipeg has played only one road game
since Nov. 26 and is 4-8-4 outside Manitoba. Jets workhorse goaltender
Ondrej Pavelec (12-12-5) has lost seven straight away games (0-4-3)
since shutting out the New York Islanders 3-0 on Nov. 3. The Avalanche
have a hot goaltender in Jean-Sebastien Giguere (8-4-0, 1.79, .934), who
has won four straight and is 6-1-0 at home. Semyon Varlamov played
Monday – his first game since Dec. 15 – so Giguere will likely start
Tuesday.
TV: 9 p.m., TSN-Jets (Winnipeg), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE JETS (16-14-5): Winnipeg has alternated wins and
losses in its last eight games, so Tuesday is its turn to win. Right
wing Blake Wheeler has five goals and 18 points in his last 17 games,
but left wing Evander Kane hasn’t scored a goal in seven games after
recording 10 in the previous 11. Defenseman Randy Jones (upper body) and
center Bryan Little (leg) are questionable. The Jets return home for
two games before starting 2012 with 12 of 16 on the road.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (19-17-1): Because the NHL does not allow
teams to travel on Christmas Day, Colorado departed Denver
International Airport at 8 a.m. on Monday for the two-hour flight to
Minnesota. The Avalanche are 9-1-0 against the Eastern Conference this
season, including 5-0 at home. Colorado is 2-1-0 this season in the
second of back-to-back games. Ryan O’Reilly entered Monday leading the
NHL in takeaways with 51.
OVERTIME:
1. The teams have split their last four meetings with Colorado
prevailing most recently 4-2 in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 2010. The Jets have
won four of their last five in Colorado as the road team is 6-2-1 in the
last nine encounters.
2. Colorado is 6-0 in shootouts this season and has won 17 of its 18 games that have gone to the bonus format.