Canadiens at Avalanche
The Montreal Canadiens had shown signs of life by ripping off three consecutive wins at home, but the positive vibes quickly dissipated following back-to-back beatings in Buffalo and Arizona. The free-falling Canadiens will look to salvage their three-game road trip when they visit former goaltender Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
Montreal was lit up for six goals in each of the past two setbacks and has now permitted one more tally than it has scored - a startling reversal for a team that outscored opponents 35-12 during a season-opening nine-game winning streak. "If somebody in this room can look at themselves in the mirror and say they're playing their best hockey, we're in trouble," Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban said. Colorado was denied a sweep of its three-game road trip in a 4-1 loss at Buffalo and now must attempt to halt a four-game skid at home. The Avalanche halted a three-game losing streak in the series with a 6-1 romp in Montreal on Nov. 14.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, RDS, SportsNet (Montreal), Altitude (Colorado), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (27-26-4): Montreal will be without forward David Desharnais, who was wearing a walking boot Tuesday after he was hit by a shot from teammate Tom Gilbert in Sunday's loss and will be re-evaluated when the team returns home. The Canadiens will be hoping for a bounce-back performance from netminder Ben Scrivens, whose three-start winning streak came to a crashing halt when he was dented for three goals on eight shots in Friday's loss to Buffalo. Scrivens has made four career starts against Colorado, posting a 1-1-2 mark with a 2.18 goals-against average.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (29-26-4): In an effort to boost the team's offense, Roy is moving co-leading scorer Matt Duchene from right wing to center a line with Jarome Iginla and Mikhail Grigorenko. "I think as a team we've been stale offensively in the last 20 games," Duchene told the Denver Post. "If you look at our goals per game, it's not very good. We haven't been scoring the same and maybe mixing something up will help." Like Scrivens, Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov made a cameo appearance last time out versus Buffalo, getting pulled after allowing two goals on five shots.
OVERTIME
1. Iginla will play in his 1,452nd NHL game to move past Teemu Selanne for sole possession of 22nd place on the all-time list
2. Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty has one goal and two assists in his last 11 games.
3. Avalanche F Jack Skille will return to the lineup after missing five games due to a concussion.