Avs continue successful road trip at Ottawa

AVALANCHE (2-1-0) at SENATORS (1-2-0)

TV: ALT (HD), SNET-E

Season Series: This is the lone meeting between the teams. They last met on Dec. 17, 2010, when the Avalanche earned a 6-5 overtime victory at the Pepsi Center on a goal by Matt Duchene.

Team Scope:

Avalanche: Colorado was a mere 40.4 seconds away from failing to earn a point in the standings Wednesday night, but Gabriel Landeskog scored his first NHL goal to force overtime before Milan Hejduk and Duchene scored in the shootout as the Avs rallied for a 3-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

The win was Colorado's second straight after it blanked the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Monday afternoon. The Avs will look to make it three in a row on this four-game road trip, which concludes Saturday at Montreal.

"I like the fact that we were resilient," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "It's hard to win in this League. We found a way to come away with two points tonight."

Senators: It required a shootout, but Ottawa picked up its first win of the season Tuesday night with a 4-3 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Place. Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson all beat Niklas Backstrom in the breakaway competition to help Paul MacLean tally his first win as a head coach in the NHL.

Afterwards, MacLean was informed that the Sens were 18-34 overall in the shootout before this season. They went 2-5 in 2010-11 under former coach Cory Clouston.

"I only know that we're 1 and 0," MacLean, a former Red Wings assistant, said. "We scored three goals in the shootout and I think the history's good."

Who's Hot: Sens forward Chris Neil had a goal and an assist against the Wild, while Peter Regin had two helpers in what was his season debut.

Injury Report: Mark Olver (head) and Brandon Yip (forearm) are out for Colorado. … Ottawa will be without defenseman Matt Carkner (knee). Jesse Winchester is questionable due to a shoulder injury suffered during training camp.

Stat Pack: Colorado went 0-for-3 on the power play Wednesday night and is now 0-for-10 on the season. However, the Avs killed all four Columbus man advantages and improved to 9-for-9 on the penalty kill.

Puck Drop: "He's a guy you want to play for. It's been fun around here. He expects you to work hard and if you work hard he's happy with you. He can live with the outcome, as long as you're working hard." -- Sens forward Chris Neil on new coach Paul MacLean

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