Game Preview: Avalanche vs. Canadiens

COLORADO AVALANCHE (17-11-2) VS MONTREAL CANADIENS (15-15-2)
6 PM MT | BALL ARENAWATCH:ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM/950 AM
The Colorado Avalanche clash with the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night in their final game of a season-long five-game homestand. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. MT on Altitude at Ball Arena.

LAST TIME OUT

Avs netminder Alexandar Georgiev outlasted Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin in a goaltenders duel Monday night as Colorado prevailed over the NY Islanders in a 1-0 shootout win. Georgiev finished the night with 26 saves to record his second shutout of the season and 10th of his career. Evan Rodrigues netted the only goal of the shootout to help the Avalanche win four of the last five games.
The Canadiens enter Wednesday's matchup after snapping a three-game skid following a 3-2 overtime victory in Arizona Monday night. The game had a back-and-forth scoring effect, with all four regulation goals being scored in the second period. Cole Caufield and Christian Dvorak found the back of the net in regulation before Mike Hoffman split two defenders to score the overtime game-winner.

HISTORY

Colorado owns a 61-72-15 all-time mark versus Montreal, with a 22-10-3 record since the franchise moved to Denver in 1995-96. The Avs are 13-2-1 at home versus the Canadiens since 1995-96.
Wednesday's game is the first of two contests against the Canadiens this season, with the final outing in Montreal on March 13 at 5:30 p.m. MT.
The Avalanche swept the two-game regular season series versus Montreal last season and had a 7-3 goal differential.

SCOUTING THE CANADIENS

Forward Nick Suzuki leads Montreal in scoring with 31 points (15G, 16A). Cole Caufield follows with 28 points (19G, 9A) and paces the team in goals scored.
Goaltender Sam Montembeault holds a 6-3-2 record this season, with a 2.89 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.

LINEUP UPDATES

Avalanche

Nathan MacKinnonUpper body
Gabriel Landeskog Lower body
Darren Helm Lower body
Bowen ByramLower body
Shane BowersUpper body
Josh MansonLower body

DOING THE MOST

Pavel Francouz is 1-0-0 versus Montreal, stopping 38 of the 40 shots he faced back on Dec. 5, 2019 to help the Avs win 3-2.
Arrturi Lehkonen will face off against his former team for the first time since being traded to Colorado on March 21, 2022. The Canadiens drafted Lehkonen in the second round (55th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Sean Monahan is the active all-time Habs points leader versus the Avalanche franchise with 20 points (7G, 13A).
Netminder Jake Allen is 9-5-2 in his 16 career games played against Colorado, registering a .928 save percentage and a 2.14 goals-against average.

NUMBERS GAME

27:07
Cale Makar is the current league leader in time on ice per game at 27 minutes, seven seconds.
45
Colorado has surrendered the second-fewest amount of goals in the league in 5-on-5 play at 45, only behind Boston (42).
2
Evan Rodrigues scored the shootout winner versus the NY Islanders, his second of his career (previously this season Oct. 25 at NY Rangers). Rodrigues is now 2-for-4 (50%) in shootouts in his career.

QUOTES THAT LEFT A MARK

"I just felt like it was a really obvious one. The ref that called it wasn't the guy at center ice, he was kind of behind the net on the far side, so I don't think he had a good angle on it, he just saw me fall. I mean, I like to think that most times I fall it's usually because someone trips me, but that one, I just lost an edge. I felt pretty guilty for the boys there, so I apologized to them." - Cale Makar on waiving off a penalty