Rapid Recap: Avalanche 1, Ducks 0

ANAHEIM, Calif.--Goaltender Pavel Francouz stopped all 26 shots he faced to earn his first career NHL shutout in the Colorado Avalanche's 1-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.
J.T. Compher scored less than four minutes remaining in the second period for the game's only goal. Martin Kaut recorded the assist on the play--his first NHL point--after intercepting the puck while Anaheim attempted to clear the zone.
The Avs outshot the Ducks 29-26, including by a 14-5 margin in the middle frame.

It was the beginning of a Southern California road trip for Colorado, as the club will complete its 10th back-to-back set of the season on Saturday at the Los Angeles Kings.
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Highlights
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
16:38 COL (1-0) - Martin Kaut intercepted the puck at the blue line and passed it over to Compher, who was wide open at the left circle and scored on a one-time shot.
3rd Period
No Scoring
Final: Avalanche - 1 | Ducks - 0

3 STARS

1. John Gibson (ANA): Made 28 saves in the loss
2. Andre Burakovsky (COL): Had three shots in 17:46 of ice time
3. Pavel Francouz (COL): Denied 26 shots for first NHL shutout

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 1
Anaheim: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz stopped all 26 shots in the shutout
Anaheim: John Gibson made 28-of-29 saves

STAT OF THE NIGHT

On the same day that he signed a two-year contract extension, Pavel Francouz stopped all 26 shots he faced to earn his first career NHL shutout.

NOTEBOOK

Martin Kaut recorded his first career NHL point with an assist... Ian Cole was celebrating his 31st birthday... J.T. Compher registered his first game-winning goal of the season and the eighth of his career... Colorado and Anaheim were playing the second of three games in their season series. The Avs are now 1-1-0 vs. the Ducks in 2019-20... The Avalanche played the first half of its 10th back-to-back set of the season. The team improved to 7-3-0 in the first contest of such series this year... Colorado has won five straight road games to set a new season high. It's their longest road win streak since winning six consecutive contests away from Pepsi Center from Nov. 11 - Dec. 2, 2018. Colorado is now 19-9-2 on the road this season, the third-most road victories in the league and the most of any Western Conference team... The Avs' American Hockey League affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, was also playing in Southern California on Friday night. The Eagles won 2-1 in overtime at the Ontario Reign.

QUOTABLE

Goaltender Pavel Francouz on his shutout victory on the same day as signing a new contract: "It's been an awesome day. Maybe one of the best ones of my life. One to remember, but everything worked out well. I'm really happy, but this day is almost over and we're already focusing on tomorrow."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Where's the puck?

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche recalled forward Sheldon Dries from the AHL Colorado Eagles and returned forward T.J. Tynan to the Eagles on Thursday afternoon... Dries, who was playing his first game since Nov. 29 at Chicago, began on a line with Tyson Jost and Vladislav Kamenev… Goalie Pavel Francouz started for the third consecutive game… Mark Barberio was Colorado's lone healthy scratch.

INJURY UPDATE

Head coach Jared Bednar said after morning skate that he doesn't have an update on a timeline for a possible return for goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury… Matt Calvert (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (upper body) all remain out for a couple weeks… Colin Wilson (lower body) is continuing his rehab after have two surgeries earlier this season and has been doing off-ice training.

UP NEXT

Colorado wraps up its back-to-back set 40 miles north on Saturday night at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Kings. It will be the clubs' second meeting in eight days after they faced off in the 2020 NHL Stadium Series outdoor game last Saturday at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 61 Martin Kaut
81 Vladislav Kamenev - 17 Tyson Jost - 15 Sheldon Dries
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 16 Nikita Zadorov
28 Ian Cole - 6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
32 Hunter Miska