Avalanche at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens already have lost a pair of key players to injury in the past week, but they received some good news upon learning that their franchise goaltender will not be punished for an on-ice outburst Thursday. Montreal looks to improve on its NHL-best 13-1-1 home record when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
The NHL announced Friday that it will not levy any additional discipline on Canadiens netminder Carey Price, who repeatedly punched New Jersey's Kyle Palmieri in the back of the head with his blocker after he was bowled over in the crease during Thursdays' 5-2 win. “It seems to be the nature of the league; go to the net, run the goalie over and score a goal,” Price said. “You just gotta stick up for yourself once in a while.” Colorado halted a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) with a 4-2 win at Boston on Thursday and is expected to get captain Gabriel Landeskog back in the lineup after missing 10 games due to injury. "Everything is feeling good," Landeskog said. "I've had some good practices and morning skates and some tests on where things have been going well, and I'm feeling good."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), SN360, TVA, City (Montreal)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (10-14-1): Matt Duchene is having a strong road trip, scoring twice at Nashville on Tuesday before netting the opening goal against Boston to boost his team-high total to 10 goals. Here's the puzzling stat for Duchene -- all 10 of his goals have come away from home. "I can't score at home, and we're on the road. It feels good," Duchene said Thursday. "Obviously, back-to-back games and to get us off on the right foot tonight. We haven't scored the first goal many times this year, and the nights that we have we've usually won."
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (18-6-3): Despite losing leading scorer Alex Galchenyuk and fellow center David Desharnais to long-term injuries, returning home provided a boost for Montreal, which poured a season-high 49 shots on net against New Jersey. The Canadiens also learned that defenseman Greg Pateryn will miss eight weeks, but dominated the Devils as Torrey Mitchell scored twice. "We want to show that we're about more than two players," Mitchell said after Thursdays win, " ... but we have players that are capable of stepping up."
OVERTIME
1. Price is 3-2-1 lifetime versus Colorado with a bloated 3.21 goals-against average.
2. Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon has scored four goals in six games versus the Canadiens.
3. Montreal has struggled on the penalty kill, allowing five goals in its last 18 short-handed situations.