Avs Look To Take Advantage Of Homestand

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--The Colorado Avalanche's stretch of playing 12-of-15 games at Pepsi Center is nearing its end, but there is still work to be done and opportunities available for the club to pick up more points in its friendly confines.
Colorado takes on the Anaheim Ducks on Monday afternoon to begin a three-game homestand, which is the last time the team will play consecutive contests at home until the end of February. The Avs, who are on a season-long six-game winning streak, have won five straight at home and are 7-2-0 at Pepsi Center through the first nine games of the stretch.

"We've been doing a really good job of it lately, so I don't think we want to change too much," said rookie Alex Kerfoot on the team's recent success at home. "The coaches have been doing a good job with matchups at home, and we've been playing well in front of our fans, so we just want to keep that going."

While the Avalanche has enjoyed the home cooking around the holidays and to begin the 2018 calendar year, the squad is well aware of the tough task ahead of it. The Avs will play 13 of 16 contests away from Colorado after next Saturday's game versus the New York Rangers.
"It's important to play well here and get these points," said head coach Jared Bednar. "It's a challenge every night, but going out on the road in late January/early February, it's a road-heavy schedule. We know the challenges that it presents to our team and the competition that we're facing at that time. It will be a lot of tough work and travel that come with it, so these next three games at home are big for us."
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier is expected to get the start in net for the Avalanche and will be looking to extend his personal five-game winning streak, which ties his career long.
Bernier made 27 saves on Saturday in Colorado's 4-1 win over Dallas and has helped the club not miss a beat while Semyon Varlamov is out with a lower-body injury.
"Having a tandem in net that you are confident in, that your team is confident in, is very important because Varly got sick, missed [four] games," Bednar said of his goalies. "Now he's out with an injury, and you have to be able to continue to win hockey games."
The Avalanche will likely go with the same roster it iced for the past two games, with recently-recalled defenseman David Warsofsky expected to be the lone healthy scratch.
There was optimism from Bednar before the Avs left for Dallas that forward J.T. Compher, who has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury, could return for the outing against the Ducks, but that doesn't appear to the be case.
Compher took part in Sunday's 30-minute practice still wearing a red, non-contact jersey and did extra work after the formal session with assistant coach Ray Bennett. Sven Andrighetto, out the last four games with a lower-body ailment, also donned a red sweater on Sunday and took part in a portion of the team session.

Monday's matinee marks the first of seven home afternoon contests for the Avalanche and the fifth of 12 overall. Eight of the next 11 "weekends" feature a day outing for Colorado.
The Avs' game versus the Ducks is believed to be the first-ever 1 p.m. weekday contest in Pepsi Center history. The earlier game time is in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday in the United States.
The Avalanche won't hold a morning skate prior to the contest, so most of the on-ice preparation for the matchup took place on Sunday. For Bednar, that includes insuring his team keeps an even-keel mindset.
"Big picture, again, is that we got to make sure that we're maintaining our composure and taking it one day at a time, and it starts tomorrow with a real tough opponent in Anaheim," Bednar said. "Anaheim is getting healthy and is playing some real good hockey, so it should be an interesting game tomorrow."
The Avs won the first meeting of the season against the Ducks on Oct. 13, as Bernier stopped 17 shots in a 3-1 victory. The teams won't meet again until the final week of the season on April 1 in Anaheim.