Avs Preparing For Season-Long Road Trip

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--After wrapping up a four-game homestand with a 6-1 victory against the New York Rangers on Friday night, the Colorado Avalanche was back on the practice ice in preparation for the club's longest road trip of the season.
The Avs will play games in five Canadian cities over 10 days, making stops in Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.
"It's definitely going to be a one-game-at-a-time approach," said forward Gabriel Landeskog. "We got to go into Winnipeg in a division matchup and try and play a solid road game. Play the right way, just like we did last night and try and come out on top."

Colorado has three days to prepare for its contest on Tuesday at the Jets and had a full practice on Saturday at Family Sports Center. The only players that didn't skate in the 30-minute session were Nikita Zadorov (lower body), Sven Andrighetto and Erik Johnson, with the latter of the two taking maintenance days.
Injured skaters Mark Barberio (upper body), Conor Timmins (concussion) and Colin Wilson (upper body) took part in the team practice in red, non-contact jerseys. Barberio and Timmins also skated beforehand doing individual drills with the club's assistant coaches.
Semyon Varlamov and Philipp Grubauer were the goaltenders out on the ice for the session. Varlamov has missed the past two games with a minor lower-body injury, though he did participate in Friday's morning skate.
The Avs have an off day scheduled for Sunday and will have a short practice on Monday prior to their flight up north.

FRANCOUZ SENT DOWN

Before practice began, the Avalanche announced that goaltender Pavel Francouz had been reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League.
Francouz, who was recalled from the Eagles on Tuesday, appeared in Wednesday's Avs game against the San Jose Sharks in a relief capacity. He stopped 12 of 13 shots and helped Colorado storm a comeback that fell one-goal short.
It was the Czech goalie's second career NHL contest after he made his debut on Dec. 22 at the Arizona Coyotes, where he stopped 21 shots also in relief.
In 23 games with the Eagles this season, Francouz has posted a 13-7-2 record, 2.65 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and one shutout.