Avalanche Visits Columbus for First Road Contest of the Season

After starting the season with two games on home ice, the Colorado Avalanche (2-0-0) heads to Columbus (1-1-0) for the first outing of a two-game road trip. It's the first of two meetings between the clubs this season and the only one that will be played in Columbus.
The Avs are 38-14-5 all-time against Columbus (.711), their best record against any opponent. Colorado has an 18-6-4 overall mark as the road team in the series.

Last Time Out

Colin Wilson scored two goals and Erik Johnson notched three assists to propel Colorado to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night at Pepsi Center. Nathan MacKinnon (one goal, one assist) and Alexander Kerfoot (two assists) each added two points for the Avalanche, which went 1-for-4 on the power play while holding the Flyers scoreless on three opportunities with the man advantage. Semyon Varlamov finished with 35 saves.
The Blue Jackets fell 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes in their home opener at Nationwide Arena on Friday. Brandon Dubinsky scored Columbus' only tally to tie the contest at 1-1 before the end of the first frame. The Blue Jackets went 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and made 32 saves.

Last Time They Met

Colorado trailed 4-2 after two periods but rallied to force overtime at Nationwide Arena on March 8. Seth Jones scored less than a minute into the extra frame to give the Blue Jackets the win. Carl Soderberg led the Avs with two goals, one of which was the game-tying tally late in the third period. Mikko Rantanen also had a two-point night with two assists. Semyon Varlamov finished with 39 saves while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 23 shots for Columbus.

What To Watch

Special Teams
The Avalanche is 6-for-6 on the penalty kill through the first two contests of the season, one of eight teams in the league that has not allowed a power-play goal so far this campaign. Colorado has also scored a power-play goal in each of its outings and is a combined 2-for-7 (28.6 percent) with the man advantage through two contests.
Avs Against the East
Colorado finished the 2017-18 campaign 19-11-2 against the Eastern Conference, including a 9-3-1 record in its final 13 games against the conference. The Avalanche is 1-0-0 against the East so far this season, having topped the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. Eight of Colorado's next nine contests will be played against Eastern Conference teams with six of those taking place on the road.

Players To Watch

Colorado: Left Wing Matt Calvert
Calvert makes his first appearance in Columbus as a member of the visiting club, playing against the team he played 416 games for from 2010-18. Calvert was drafted by the Blue Jackets in the fifth round (127th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft and spent his entire career with the Columbus organization before being signed by the Avalanche as a free agent on July 1. In two games with the Avs, he's averaged 13:08 of ice time and has recorded four hits, tied for first (Sheldon Dries) among Colorado forwards.
Columbus: Center Pierre-Luc Dubois
The second-year forward notched two points (two assists) against the Avalanche in last year's two-game series. The first-round pick (third overall) of the Blue Jackets in the 2016 NHL Draft, Dubois registered 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) in his rookie campaign for Columbus. Through the Blue Jackets first two contests of the season, he's averaged 21:12 of time on ice, second among the team's forwards.

The Details

Tuesday's game between the Avs and Blue Jackets begins at 5 p.m. MT from Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Fans can watch live on Altitude TV, and the radio broadcast can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM.