Road Trip Continues In Boston

The Colorado Avalanche plays the second contest of a four-game road swing in Boston on Thursday night. The Avalanche is looking to get back on track after starting the road trip with a loss to Nashville on Tuesday night and going 0-5-1 through its last six contests.
The Avalanche is 18-10-1 all-time against the Bruins, but have been even stronger in Boston, where its posted a 10-2-1 record, including an eight-game winning streak that began on March 24, 2001. Colorado has not lost a game in Boston since March 30, 1998.

Last Time Out

The Avs fell to the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Tuesday night. Matt Duchene scored two power-play goals, and Colorado finished 2-for-4 with the man advantage. A tie game headed into the third period, Nashville's Roman Josi scored just over a minute into the final frame to give the Preds a 4-3 lead. The goal stood as the game-winner, as the Avalanche couldn't put one past Pekka Rinne despite firing 13 shots in the third period.
Boston was defeated by the Washington Capitals 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday night in the first game of their fifth back-to-back set of the season. Down 3-0 in the second period, the Bruins rattled off three straight goals, knotting the game at three in the third period to send it to overtime. Nicklas Backstrom potted the overtime winner, but the Bruins still left Washington with a point and are riding a six-game point streak into Thursday's game.

Last Time They Met

Tuukka Rask made 21 saves to backstop the Bruins to a 2-0 shutout victory in Denver on Nov. 13. Semyon Varlamov finished with a season-high 43 saves, and the Bruins put up a season-high 45 shots.

What to Watch

Bruins Penalty Kill
Boston's penalty kill ranks third in the league with a 86.7 percent rate of success. It's been even more prolific on home ice, where the B's are successful on 88.6 percent of their kills.
The Game's First Goal
Of Boston's 15 wins, 10 have come when the Bruins scored the first goal of the game, which is tied for sixth in the league in wins when scoring first. The Avs have lost 12-of-19 games when surrendering the game's first goal.
Avalanche Power Play
Colorado was 2-for-4 on the power play against the Predators on Tuesday with both man-advantage goals coming off the stick of Matt Duchene for his first special teams tallies of the season. Duchene now leads the Avalanche with nine goals and ranks second on the team with 15 points.

Player to Watch

Colorado: Center Nathan MacKinnon
MacKinnon leads the Avalanche, which ranks second in the league in overall faceoff win percentage (53.8), with 246 faceoff wins on the season.
Boston: Center Patrice Bergeron
The Bruins rank third in the league in faceoff win percentage with a 52.7 rate of success, and Bergeron is a big reason for that. The center ranks fourth in the league with 321 faceoff wins.

Lineup Notes

Calvin Pickard will make his eighth start of the season and the first of his career against Boston.
After being a full participant in Colorado's practice on Wednesday, defenseman Fedor Tyutin is expected to be back in the lineup.
"He looks good," said head coach Jared Bednar following Wednesday's practice. "I think he's a player for us as long as everything feels good again [in the] morning."

The Details

Thursday's game between the Avalanche and the Bruins will air live on Altitude at 5 p.m. MT and can be heard live on Kool 105.1 FM and online at
ColoradoAvalanche.com
. Area fans looking to experience the game together can do so at the official team watch party at Blake Street Vault. The event, hosted by Alexis Perry, will include specials, raffle prizes and appearances from mascot Bernie and the Ram Trucks Avalanche Ice Girls.