Colorado Faces Montreal On Valentine's Day

The Colorado Avalanche returns home from a three-game road trip to host the Montreal Canadiens at Pepsi Center on Wednesday night. The game is the start of a stretch in which the Avalanche will play eight straight contests against teams from north of the border.
The Avalanche is 17-8-3 all-time against Montreal (since 1995-96) but has been more successful at home in the series, going 10-2-1 at its friendly confines. Colorado has won four of the last five meetings at Pepsi Center.

Last Time Out

Colin Wilson notched two points, including the 100th goal of his NHL career, to lead the Avalanche to a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday evening. Tyson Jost, Alexander Kerfoot, Gabriel Bourque and Matt Nieto also scored for the Avs, who went 1-for-5 on the power play after going four consecutive contests without registering a man-advantage goal. Jonathan Bernier finished with 28 saves.
Montreal enters Wednesday night's tilt having not played since a 3-2 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. The Canadiens trailed 2-1 midway through the third period until Jonathan Drouin scored with 1:14 remaining in regulation to tie the contest. Montreal had an extra attacker on the ice for the tying maker as goaltender Carey Price was pulled late. Montreal outshot Nashville 10-2 in overtime--and 49-32 in the game--but couldn't get the puck past Pekka Rinne for the win, ultimately falling in a shootout.

Last Time They Met

The Canadiens won the first meeting of the season, 4-2, on Jan. 23 at Bell Centre, which halted the Avalanche's winning streak at 10 games. Montreal got on the board first and held a 3-0 lead midway through the third period with goals from Nicolas Deslauriers, Alex Galchenyuk and Jonathan Drouin. Nathan MacKinnon and J.T. Compher scored for the Avs. Colorado finished scoreless on four power-play opportunities while the Habs converted on one of their four chances with the man advantage.

What To Watch

Avs Look to Continue Streak
The Avalanche enters Wednesday night's contest on a nine-game home winning streak, the longest home winning streak since the team relocated to Denver in 1995-96 (previous record was eight games from Nov. 30-Dec. 23, 2011). The streak is the second-longest home winning streak by any team in the NHL in 2017-18 (Washington, 10), and the Avalanche can match the franchise record of 10 straight home wins (by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994-95 and 1983-84) with a victory on Wednesday. Colorado has scored the first goal in all nine games of the streak and has not trailed at any point.
Historic Game
Wednesday night's contest will mark the 3,000th game played in Avalanche/Nordiques history and the 1,500th home game.
Avs on Valentine's Day
The Avs are playing on Valentine's Day for the fourth straight year and ninth time since moving to Denver. Colorado is 3-4-1 on Valentine's Day, including a 1-2-1 record on home ice. Prior to the franchise relocating, the Quebec Nordiques were 2-7-0 on Valentine's Day.
Back-to-Back
Wednesday's game is the start of the back-to-back set for the Canadiens, who will travel to Arizona to take on the Coyotes on Thursday night. It's the 10th time this season that Montreal will play on consecutive nights. The Habs are 5-4-0 in the first game of a back-to-back in 2017-18. The Avalanche was playing the second game of a back-to-back when the teams met on Jan. 23.

Player To Watch

Colorado: Left Wing Matt Nieto
Nieto picked up a short-handed goal in Sunday's win over Buffalo and enters Wednesday's contest just one point shy of 100 for his NHL career. His marker on Sunday was the 10th of the season, which matches a career high.
Montreal: Center Jonathan Drouin
Drouin notched a goal and two assists in the first matchup on Jan. 23 and has four points (two goals and two assists) in five career games against the Avs. He scored in Montreal's shootout loss to the Predators on Saturday and enters Wednesday's contest with points in two straight outings.

Lineup Notes

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov will be in net for Colorado, his first home start since Jan. 2 versus the Winnipeg Jets. He missed a month with a lower-body injury before returning to action on Feb. 3 at Winnipeg.
The Avs made a few roster moves with the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. Colorado recalled defenseman Duncan Siemens and forward Rocco Grimaldi and reassigned defenseman Andrei Mironov.

The Details

Puck drop for Wednesday's Valentine's Day matchup between the Avs and Canadiens is at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are still available. The game can be watched live locally on Altitude, and the radio broadcast can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio AM 950.