Game Preview: Avalanche vs. Capitals

COLORADO AVALANCHE (9-5-1) AT WASHINGTON CAPITALS (7-9-3)
5 PM MT | CAPITAL ONE ARENA WATCH:ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM/950 AM
The Colorado Avalanche remain on the road as they travel to the nation's capital to take on the Washington Capitals Saturday night. Coverage begins at 5 p.m. MT at Capital One Arena.

Saturday's matchup is the second leg of a three-game road trip, ending in Dallas on Monday.
It is also the first of a two-game series against the Caps this season, with Washington visiting the Mile High City on Jan. 24.

LAST TIME OUT

Despite being outshot 48-15, the Avalanche beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime and their second win against the cup-contending Hurricanes in the past week.
Pavel Francouz was the star of the show, slamming the door shut on the Canes' offense as he saved 46 of the 48 shots he faced. Evan Rodrigues scored a power-play goal in the first before Alex Newhook executed a beautiful deke to bury it past the Carolina goalie late in the second period. Arrturi Lehkonen called game in overtime off a screaming one-timer to help the Avs capture their fifth victory in the last six games.
Washington enters Saturday's matchup following a 5-4 shootout loss in St. Louis. Down 4-2 with 4:15 left in the third, the Capitals scored twice late in the third before falling in the sixth round of a shootout, suffering their third-straight defeat.
AVALANCHE VS CAPITALS
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GAME EXTRAS
Avalanche 360
Avalanche Tickets

HISTORY

Colorado owns a 33-45-11 all-time mark versus Washington, with a 14-19-4 record since 1995-96.
The Avs fell in both games against the Caps in the 2021-22 regular season.

SCOUTING THE CAPITALS

Alex Ovechkin leads in scoring for the Caps with 17 points (9G, 8A). Dylan Strome and Evgeny Kuznetsov follow in second and third with 15 (5G, 10A) and 14 points (2G, 12A), respectively.
Old friend and 2022 Avs Stanley Cup starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper is finding his way for Washington, holding a 2.73 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Martin Fehervary has 68 hits this season which is second in the league behind Luke Schenn of Vancouver.

DOING THE MOST

Nathan MacKinnon holds the most points by an active Avalanche player versus Washington with 18 (6G, 12A).

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Evgeny Kuznetsov leads the Caps franchise in scoring averaging 1.67 points per game against the Avs.
Darcy Kuemper could potentially get the start against his former team, which would be his ninth start in his career against the Avs. Kuemper has a .928 Sv% and a 1.90 GAA against Colorado. The Capitals also recently claimed Nicolas Aube-Kubel - who was a member of Colorado's 2022 Stanley Cup-winning team - off waivers from Toronto.

NUMBERS GAME

46
Pavel Francouz made a career-high 46 saves on Thursday night against Carolina.
5
Arrturi Lehkonen matched a career-high five-game point streak after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime at Carolina.
Top-6
The Avalanche rank fourth in the NHL in team save percentage (.922) and sixth in goals-against average at 2.64.

QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK

"Now we're back to the regular schedule and we feel the rhythm better," - Goaltender Pavel Francouz following the 3-2 win at Carolina on Thursday night.