Canadiens at Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche look to eclipse their best start of a season and honor a former captain on Saturday, when they host the Montreal Canadiens. The Avalanche won their fifth straight game and improved to 11-1-0 after Paul Stastny netted his second goal of the contest at 3:36 of overtime in a 3-2 win over Dallas on Friday. The victory helped the team match the best start in franchise history after 12 games set by the 1994-95 Quebec Nordiques.
Prior to Saturday's contest, former defenseman Adam Foote's No. 52 will be the ninth jersey retired by the franchise. Foote played 17 of his 19 NHL seasons with Quebec/Colorado and helped the franchise to two Stanley Cup titles. Montreal saw its four-game road winning streak come to an end with a 4-3 setback at Minnesota on Friday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS (Montreal), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (8-6-0): P.K. Subban recorded a goal and an assist while fellow blue-liner Andrei Markov set up three scores for Montreal on Friday. Carey Price made 21 saves but is expected to watch Peter Budaj make his third start of the season. Budaj has stopped 54-of-55 shots this season en route to winning both decisions.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (11-1-0): Speaking of goalies, Semyon Varlamov turned aside 27 shots Friday, one day after he was freed on bail after being arrested on kidnapping and assault charges involving his girlfriend. "I got such good teammates, so I don't think about what's happening," Varlamov told the Denver Post after the game. "I said before, no comments on that. I feel very comfortable today." Backup Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who likely will start on Saturday, has recorded shutouts in two of his three victories this season while stopping 101-of-103 shots overall.
OVERTIME
1. Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon, who was the top overall pick of the 2013 draft, had an assist to snap a five-game drought without a point.
2. Montreal has successfully killed 14-of-15 penalties over the last six games.
3. The Avalanche, who denied both of the Stars' power-play opportunities, own the top penalty kill in the NHL (92.7 percent)