Colorado Takes On Montreal In Second Half Of Back-To-Back

The Colorado Avalanche continues its season-long, six-game road trip on Tuesday at the Montreal Canadiens. It is the first of two meetings between the clubs during the 2017-18 season. Colorado is 17-8-3 against Montreal since 1995-96, including a 7-6-2 record as the visiting team.
The Avalanche is on the second half of a back-to-back set in Canada and is coming off its 10th straight win. This win streak has improved the Avs' record to 27-16-3 this campaign. The Canadiens are 19-22-6 this season and hold a 11-9-5 record at home.

Last Time Out

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Monday. Gabriel Bourque found the back of the net at the 2:19 mark of the first period to open the scoring for the Avs. After allowing two goals in the second period and falling to its first deficit since Dec. 27, Colorado knotted the match with a Nail Yakupov marker just over the halfway mark of the stanza. Blake Comeau snagged the game-winning goal in the final 20 minutes, and Gabriel Landeskog sealed the win with an empty-net tally with less than a minute remaining in the contest.
The Montreal Canadiens played their second game in as many days on Saturday and fell to the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Montreal. After a scoreless first stanza, Montreal got on the scoreboard first with a marker from Max Pacioretty. However the Bruins netted four goals, two in the second period and two in the third frame, for the win.

Last Time They Met

The two clubs last hit the ice together on February 7 when the Avalanche defeated the Canadiens 4-0 behind three goals from Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen lit the lamp once in each period for his first career NHL hat trick and Calvin Pickard recorded a shutout between the pipes. Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mark Barberio each recorded two assists in the outing.

What to Watch

Going Streaking
Colorado has put together 10 consecutive wins for the second longest chain of victories in Avalanche history. The Avs have held opponents to two or fewer goals eight times during the streak. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier also continued a career-long, nine-game win streak tying Stephane Fiset for the second longest win streak by an Avalanche netminder, only behind 12 victories strung together by Patrick Roy (Jan. 12-Feb. 7, 1999).
Shining Special Teams
The Avalanche penalty-kill performance held Toronto 0-for-3 on Monday and even escaped 1:11 of a 3-on-5 advantage for the Leafs. Colorado's power-play unit ranks eighth in the league as it has capitalized on 20.9 percent of its opportunities, and has gone 15-for-50 (30 percent) over the last 15 contests.
Finding Twine
The Avs rank fifth in the league in goals for with 153 this season for an average of 3.33 a match. Montreal ranks 29th out of 31 teams after finding the back of the net 118 times for an average of 2.51 goals per game, though the squad is seventh in league in average shots on goal with 33.7 per game.

Player to Watch

Colorado: Right Wing Mikko Rantanen
Mikko Rantanen is second in team scoring for Colorado with 47 points (17 goals, 30 assists) in 46 contests. The forward has scored three times in two outings against Montreal in his career and recorded his first career NHL hat trick against the Canadiens.
Montreal: Left Wing Max Pacioretty
Max Pacioretty leads his team in scoring with 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 47 games this campaign. The forward scored at least a point in four of his last five games for a total of six points over the span.

The Details

Puck drop on Tuesday is set for 5:30 p.m. MT at Bell Centre. The game will be televised locally on Altitude and the radio broadcast can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio AM 950 or online at ColoradoAvalanche.com.