Avalanche at Canadiens
Matt Duchene has gotten hot at an opportune time as the Colorado Avalanche continue their season-long seven game road trip Saturday with a contest against the NHL's top team - the Montreal Canadiens. Duchene recorded six goals in his last five games, including the game-winner in the third period while adding an assist in Colorado's 3-2 victory at Boston on Thursday as the Avalanche improved to 2-0-0 on their trek - part of stretch where they'll play 14 of 18 games on the road.
Coach Patrick Roy decided to put his top three offensive players - Duchene, captain Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon - on the same line to begin the road trip, and the unit delivered seven points in two games, with Duchene scoring twice in Tuesday's 4-0 victory in Philadelphia. Duchene and MacKinnon, though, will have a new linemate for the next two games as Landeskog was suspended for his hit to the head on Boston's Brad Marchand on Thursday. Both teams are winning despite groin injuries to their top goaltenders as Montreal is 4-0-2 since Carey Price went down, and the reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner could be out another week. Colorado's Semyon Varlamov remains day-to-day and if he cannot go, backup Reto Berra or Calvin Pickard - recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League - will get the call.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), SNET (Montreal)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (6-9-1): Jarome Iginla shares the team lead with Duchene in goals with seven and needs four to become the 19th player in NHL history to reach 600, but his veteran leadership to a young group is nearly as important. “Jarome is a very positive person." Roy told reporters. "He’s not a guy that’s going to come into the dressing room and throw guys under the bus. He’s having a more positive approach. At times, I think this is good. We have other guys that are capable of putting more pressure on our guys. He’s taking care of himself both on and off the ice. He’s a guy that has a great presence in this room.” Berra (3-3-0, 1.58 goals-against average, .948 save percentage) has started the last three games (2-1-0) while Pickard was 6-0-3, 2.27, .935 with San Antonio.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (13-2-2): While Berra has performed admirably, Mike Condon has started every game since Price's injury and posted a .932 save percentage during that span. “We obviously know what Pricer means to our lineup, and in our minds he’s the best player in the world,” forward Brendan Gallagher told reporters. “You can’t replace a guy like that, but that said, Condo has stepped up and done everything he could." Gallagher has two goals and three assists in his last three games while captain Max Pacioretty, who shares the team lead in goals (eight) with Dale Weise, has a goal and three assists in his last three.
OVERTIME
1. Colorado is 2-6-1 in one-goal games this season while Montreal is 1-1-2.
2. Prior to Friday's games, the Canadiens boasted the top penalty-killing unit in the NHL (89.7 percent) while possessing the third-best power play (27.1).
3. Montreal has won three straight meetings since Colorado's 4-1 victory Nov. 2, 2013 in Roy's first game coaching against his former team.