Off-Ice Chemistry Aiding Avalanche's Road Success

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--The Colorado Avalanche is in one of its toughest parts of the year. The club is three games into a stretch of playing at least every other day for the remainder of regular season, skating its final 21 games in 39 days, and is in the middle of playing eight of 10 contests on the road.
The Avs have found ways to win over the last several weeks to keep pace in the hunt for the top spot in the Western Conference and did it once again on Saturday night, setting a franchise record in the process.
Skating in the second half of a back-to-back and with their goalie, Pavel Francouz, starting both contests, Colorado picked up a 3-2 victory against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena for its eighth straight road victory. The win broke the record for longest road winning streak in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, seven games from Jan. 10-Feb. 7, 1999.

"I think our guys worked and committed to what we tried to do tonight," said head coach Jared Bednar postgame. "It was good that we dug in and got the two points. It was a bit of strange game there at times, but our penalty kill held us in there, Frankie held us in there, and we got some timely goals."
It is the second longest road winning streak of the year in the NHL, with only the New York Rangers' nine-game streak being better (Jan. 16 to Feb. 28). The Avs have the most road wins and points in the NHL this season with a 22-9-2 record (46 points).
"The road has been good to us. I think it is just a sign of a team that enjoys each other and gets along and has a lot of fun together," said Erik Johnson, who tallied the game-winner against the Predators. "You spend a lot of time on the bus and on the plane, going to dinner, going to movies… It is a team that has a lot of fun together and really enjoys each other, and I think it just makes it that much better for us on the road when you enjoy each other's company and you want to play that hard for the guy next to you."
Gabriel Landeskog agreed with Johnson's assertion that the bonds the Avs have formed away from the rink during road trips have helped with the on-ice product.
"That is super important this time of year to have that close-knit group, especially with a lot of new guys, new faces coming in this season--it is important that we stick together," Landeskog said. "It is funny how it works, when you win on the road it seems to bring the group that much closer together and coming into April and May and hopefully June as well. It is going to be important that we are close-knit group and stick together through the ups and downs."

Overall, Colorado has won six contests in a row, tied for its longest streak of the season (Nov. 27-Dec. 7). The team is 14-3-1 in its last 18 games and has swept its last three back-to-backs, the first time it has done that since October 2009.
The Avs won 3-2 on Friday at the Carolina Hurricanes to open its 11th consecutive-night set of the season. The squad, which plays its final back-to-back of the year next week at the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings, improved to 8-3-0 in the first game and 6-4-1 in the second of such series.
What is also impressive about the Avalanche's present run is that it is doing it without five of the regular forwards in the lineup due to various injuries, and the club has won tight games. The team's last five wins have been by one goal, and each of its past six victories on the road have also been by that margin.
"At the start of the year, we were finding ways to lose those games, now we're finding a way to win those one-goal games." Johnson said. "It helps having a real hot goalie right now and guys are dialed in. We've practiced on 5-on-6 and 6-on-4 and all that, so we know what to do in those situations. Sometimes it is just luck, you get a bad bounce here, good bounce there, it just happens sometimes. We're just find ways to win right now and that is the way it is going for us. It's fun to be on the right side of it."

JOHNSON'S MILESTONE

Erik Johnson recorded a goal and an assist for his third multi-point game of the season and reached the 300-point mark for his career.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft, Johnson becomes the first defenseman from that year's selection to reach the milestone
"I used to be known a little more for my offense, not so much anymore, but milestones are fun and they are even more fun when it's in a win," Johnson said. "It's cool. It's not why you play the game. You play long enough and you're around long enough, those things kind of start to add up and it's fun to enjoy. It helps to play with great players and great teammates."
The Bloomington, Minnesota, native's tally ended up as the game-winning goal, his first of the season and 18th of his career. His last winning tally was April 4 against the Winnipeg Jets, the overtime goal on the night the Avs clinched their playoff berth last season.

INJURY UPDATE

Andre Burakovsky didn't play against the Predators due to a lower-body injury and has now missed three of the team's past four games. He played on Friday at Carolina after sitting the previous two contests with an upper-body ailment.
"He came in last game and didn't feel 100 percent," Bednar said of Burakovsky following the win in Nashville. "I just don't feel it is a time to be pushing guys through injuries if they're not ready. We want them back, we want them back healthy when they're at 100 percent and able to help us win."
Fellow forwards Matt Calvert (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Matt Nieto (upper body) and Mikko Rantanen (upper body) are also out of the lineup for Colorado, but they all should be back by mid-March.

FORWARD MARK BARBERIO

The Avalanche used a non-traditional lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but that seventh blueliner acted more like a forward for most of the night.
With Andre Burakovsky out and Vladislav Kamenev scratched, D-man Mark Barberio was thrust back into the lineup and started the game on the club's fourth line with center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and right wing Logan O'Connor. Barberio finished with 8:22 of ice time.
"He did a nice job, too," Bednar said of Barberio. "That line was good, they had some jump. They were good on the forecheck, they had a good couple rush chances. I liked that line. It was a gritty, it was determined line with Bellemare and O'Connor as well."
Barberio was playing his first NHL game since Dec 18 at the Chicago Blackhawks, but he did skate in four games with the American Hockey League Colorado Eagles from Feb. 7-12 on a conditioning assignment.

MORE NOTES

The Avs were 11-3-1 last month, a new franchise record for wins in February. Colorado's 11 wins in February were tied for the most in the NHL last month (New York Rangers, Boston). The Avalanche has posted a winning record in each of the first five months of the season (8-2-2 in October, 8-6-0 in November, 7-5-2 in December and 5-2-2 in January), the first time since 2000-01 that it has accomplished the feat.
The victory in Nashville marked the first time the Avs have won on Leap Day. It was the club's first game on Feb. 29 since 1999-00 and just the third time it has played on the day since moving to Denver in 1995.
The Avalanche finished 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and is now a perfect 18-for-18 over its last eight games.
Goaltender Pavel Francouz earned his sixth consecutive win, setting a career-best winning streak. He has a 1.32 goals-against average and .957 save percentage over that stretch. Overall, Francouz is tied for second in the league in save percentage (.929) and fifth in goals-against average (2.24).
Tyson Jost finished with an assist and now has points in three straight games (two goals, two assists), a season long that matches his career-best point streak (four time, last: April 2-6, 2019). Samuel Girard also added an assist in the contest to match his career-long point streak (one goal, three assists).
The Avalanched improved to 2-0-0 against the Predators this season, as the clubs were playing their second of four meetings this season and first since Colorado's 9-4 win on Nov. 7 at Pepsi Center. The clubs meet again on March 19 in Nashville and March 29 in Denver.