The Avs are 2-0-1 so far on this stint away from the Mile High City, falling 3-2 in a shootout to the New York Rangers before beating the New Jersey Devils 5-3 and the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1.
The Avalanche is in the middle of a stretch that has the squad playing nine-of-12 and 11-of-15 away from home. The club opened the season with a pair of games at Pepsi Center but plays 11 of its first 17 matchups on the road.
Tonight, The Avs are facing the Flyers for the second and final time in the young season. Colorado was victorious in the first meeting, winning 5-2 behind a pair of goals from Colin Wilson, three assists by Erik Johnson and 35 saves from Semyon Varlamov.
"Good team in Philly, it's kind of rare you see an Eastern Conference team two times in the first eight or nine games," said Calvert. "We know they got a lot of skill. It's always tough to play in this barn, so we are just going to come out and we are going to try to dictate the game early. We are going to skate--that is what we have been doing with our success so far--and go have some fun with it again."
Colorado has collected points in seven of its first eight games of the 2018-19 campaign (5-1-2, 12 points), including at least one in each of the last five contests. This marks only the sixth time in 23 seasons since moving to Denver in 1995 that the Avs have gained 12 or more points through their first eight outings.
"We have been pretty good [on the trip], a little bit up and down--same as our season as a whole to this point," Bednar said. "We have been paying a lot of attention to our defensive-zone play and the way we manage the puck. Some nights we are really good, some nights we are not as good. We have been relying on our goaltender a little bit too much in my opinion, even though we love the way both those guys are playing. We don't want to lean on them and we want to make sure we are trying to get production out of all of our lines, not just the big line.
"It is their job to lead our team and carry our team and there is a big responsibility there, they have been getting that part done… I would like to drive a little bit more out of the rest of our lineup to be honest with you, but I think to this point in the season, eight games in, I think we are having a pretty good start and we are continually trying to build. Guys are attentive and trying to do the right thing so I like where we are at."
