Colorado Opens Road Trip in Carolina

The Colorado Avalanche is opening a stretch of road games at the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The Avs are in a stretch that finds them playing eight of 10 on the road and will play their next six of seven away from Pepsi Center.
Colorado is coming off of a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. Martin Kaut tallied his first NHL goal while J.T. Compher notched a goal and an assist for his sixth multi-point game of the season. Gabriel Landeskog also found the back of the net to help Colorado collect two points.
The Hurricanes fell 4-1 to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Sebastian Aho scored Carolina's only goal in the second period.

The season series between the Hurricanes and Avalanche concludes tonight. Carolina won the first matchup 3-1 on Dec. 19 at Pepsi Center.

Avalanche AT CAROLINA HURRICANES

PNC Arena | Raleigh, N.C.
| Game Time: | 5:00 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | Altitude (blackouts apply), Fox Sports Carolina (CAR) | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, AM 950 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NHL.tv, AltitudeNow.com, Official app (blackouts apply to all) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | @Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-CAROLINA CONNECTIONS

Avalanche assistant coach Nolan Pratt was drafted by the Hartford Whalers in 1993 (No. 115 overall) and played 157 games with the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise, including 149 in Carolina… Colorado head coach Jared Bednar played parts of six seasons with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL and was a coach for South Carolina for seven years. He was the head coach of the Stingrays for two seasons (2007-2009), winning a Kelly Cup championship in 2008-09… Carolina blueliner Jaccob Slavin was born in Denver and played at Colorado College from 2013-2015... Hurricanes assistant coach Dean Chynoweth was previously the head coach of Colorado's American Hockey affiliate with the Lake Erie Monsters (2012-2015) and San Antonio Rampage (2015-16).

HISTORY

The Avs and Hurricanes met for the first time this season on Dec. 19 at Pepsi Center, where Carolina came out on top 3-1. After two scoreless periods, Gabriel Landeskog scored early in the third to give the Avs a 1-0 lead. Carolina then scored three goals in three minutes with tallies by Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin and Sebastion Aho to claim the win.
The two franchises joined the NHL together in 1979 as the Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques. Colorado/Quebec holds a 75-48-24 all-time edge (Carolina/Hartford is 51-72-24) and since moving to Denver in 1995, the Avalanche owns a 20-9-6 mark against Carolina, including an 8-6-3 record as the visiting team. The Avs have earned points in five of the last nine matchups going back to the 2015-16 campaign.

ROSTER REPORT

Pavel Francouz has started each of Colorado's last five outings and has won each of his last four starts, post a .963 save percentage, 0.98 goals-against average and one shutout in the stretch.

INJURY UPDATE

Andre Burakovsky (upper-body) is with the team on this road trip and is day-to-day… Matt Calvert (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (upper-body) and Colin Wilson (lower body) are not skating but Bednar noted that all of the players currently injured could return around mid-March.

SCOUTING THE HURRICANES

The Hurricanes have earned a 35-23-4 record so far this season with 72 points to sit in sixth place (tied) in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina owns the ninth best power play in the league at 21.8 percent. The Hurricanes also kill 82.7 percent of the penalties they take to rank sixth in the league.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Sebastian Aho

Sebastian Aho is the leading point-getter for the Hurricanes after registering 60 points (36 goals, 24 assists) this season. His 42 even-strength points (26 goals, 16 assists), four short-handed points (three goals, one assist) and 191 shots lead Carolina.
Aho was selected in the second round (No. 35 overall) of the 2015 draft by Carolina. He's recorded 257 points (119 goals, 138 assists) in 304 career regular-season NHL games.

NUMBERS GAME

6

Colorado has won six straight games on the road and is tied for the second longest road win streak in the league this season. Only the New York Rangers (nine) have won more in a row on the road.

21x39

Beginning with Wednesday's game against Buffalo, the Avalanche will play 21 contests in the final 39 days of the regular season. Colorado will not go more than one day between games for the rest of the campaign.

299

With an assist on Wednesday against Buffalo, Nathan MacKinnon is only one helper away from reaching 300 career assists. He currently has 487 points (188 goals, 299 assists) in his career.

NOTEBOOK

Colorado owns a 9-3-1 mark in February and is tied for the third most wins in the NHL this month… The Avalanche's plus-47 goal differential is the best in the Western Conference and the tied for the best in the league… Colorado's 33 regulation wins rank second in the league… Three Avalanche players (Cale Makar, Logan O'Connor and Martin Kaut) have recorded their first NHL goals this season… The game in Carolina opens the 11th back-to-back set of the season for Colorado as the team will also play at the Nashville Predators on Saturday… The Avalanche has swept each of its last two back-to-back sets, winning in Columbus/Minnesota (Feb. 8-9) and Anaheim/Los Angeles (Feb. 21-22)… The Avs, who will play one more back-to-back after this, are 7-3-0 in the first contest and 5-4-1 in the second.