Avs Come Home For Four Games

After a long stretch of travel, the Colorado Avalanche will be home for its next four contests starting tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.
The last time the Avs played consecutive games at Pepsi Center was a three-game homestand that went from Jan. 15-20. Colorado has a 20-8-1 record as the home team this campaign and has won nine of its last 10 in the Mile High City.
"It feels really nice to be home," said forward Alexander Kerfoot. "Obviously, we have been playing good hockey at home, and we are excited to be back because this is a crucial stretch for us. It's a big four-game stretch for us to make a push for the playoffs, and we are excited to be back home."

Colorado is four points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with at least one game in hand on each of the teams it is chasing.
In addition to Vancouver, the Avalanche will play the Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild during this homestay, two of the clubs that it is fighting for the final playoff berth.
"It's easy to get up for these games," said defenseman Tyson Barrie. "We have put ourselves in a good position. We have worked hard all year, 21 games left so we are excited to try and make this playoff push. We got a few games in hand so we got to make the most of them."
Barrie became the first defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history to record five points in a game when the Avalanche last faced the Canucks, a 5-4 overtime victory on Feb. 20.
The win started a three-game trip for Colorado, which went 1-1-1 on its tour through Western Canada.
"Obviously not the result we wanted on the road trip, but we have been playing really well at home all year," said Barrie. "This is a big homestand for us with a lot on the line."
Starting tonight, the Avs will play 11 of its next 17 contests at home and 14 of those games will be against teams in the Western Conference.
"Balanced schedule here to the end of the year now," said head coach Jared Bednar. "It was a tough month. You do everything you can for a large portion of the season to get in the mix and then we kind of run into a significant amount of injuries, I would say, and then you are playing 13 out of 16 on the road and it becomes a challenge for your team. We have done a decent job carving out some games, certainly there were some games we didn't like the way we played and would like to have back, but it's all in the past now."
On home ice this season, Colorado is averaging 3.52 goals per game, which ranks fifth in the NHL. The Avs also enter the contest with the league's best home penalty-kill unit, which has been successful 92.3 percent of the time.
"All we can do is focus on the games coming forward," said Bednar. "We have a handful of games here at home now in a row in a building in front of our fans where we play pretty well. Have good focus and good energy, and that's exactly what we need at this point."

INJURY UPDATES

After the Avs' morning skate, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar gave an update on his injured players.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier has been out since he suffered a head injury at the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 16.
"Berns did some work again today, first day on the ice," said Bednar. "Just some skating stuff, didn't see any pucks so he is continuing to progress. His workouts have gotten longer and longer through the week. I still don't have a timetable on him. Obviously with a concussion, it's hard to pin that down."
Forward Sven Andrighetto (lower body) and defenseman Mark Barberio (upper body) are recovering and have been out of the lineup since Jan. 2 and Jan. 25, respectively. Blueliners Anton Lindholm and Erik Johnson have both been out with upper-body injuries since getting hurt on Feb. 18.
"Andrighetto skated again today, I think that's two days in a row for him," Bednar said. "He is making some progress. Barberio is still not on the ice. The one guy that is kind of doing significantly better than last week when we left would be Lindholm. He skated a couple days on his own while we were gone. Seems to be feeling good, joined the team in a non-contact jersey today. E.J. is still not on the ice, no update on him."

AVS CLAIM ALT

Before the team took the ice for morning skate, the Avalanche announced that the team has claimed defenseman Mark Alt on waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers.
"He gives us another option back there with the three guys that we have out, they are regulars for us," said Bednar. "At 26, he has some experience as a pro and he has found a way to carve out a handful of games this year with Philly, so he can come in and help us. Not just now, but an option for the future."
He has split the 2017-18 season between the Flyers and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 6-foot-4, 201-pound defenseman has skated in eight games for Philadelphia and 23 with Lehigh Valley.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar did not mention his lineup for tonight's game but below are the lines and defense pairings from the start of the Avs' last game.
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Colin Wilson - Alexander Kerfoot - Tyson Jost
Blake Comeau - Carl Soderberg - Matt Nieto
Gabriel Bourque - Dominic Toninato - J.T. Compher
Nikita Zadorov- Tyson Barrie
Samuel Girard - Patrik Nemeth
Duncan Siemens - David Warsofsky
Semyon Varlamov
Andrew Hammond