Today marks the club's third day game of the season, the two previous occurrences taking place December 31 vs. Arizona at Honda Center (5-2 victory) and November 24 vs. Winnipeg (4-1 loss). The Ducks have three additional day games on the schedule: Saturday, February 3 at Montreal (10 a.m. PT), Saturday, February 17 at Minnesota (11 a.m. PT) and Sunday, March 4 vs. Chicago (1 p.m. PT). In terms of travel, which the Ducks have done plenty of lately, this marks the final road game until January 30 at Boston.
If the Ducks come out of Denver with two important points (they currently sit two points out of a playoff spot), they will have to do so without the one player who has been with them every step of the way since 2011. Yesterday, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced that it had suspended Andrew Cogliano two games for interference on Kings forward Adrian Kempe. Cogliano, who signed a three-year contract extension on January 12, had never missed a game in his NHL career dating to Oct. 4, 2007. It was an Iron Man streak that reached 830 games, the fourth longest consecutive games streak in NHL history. He was just 14 games away from tying Johnny Kerr for third all-time and second all-time to start a career in the NHL, MLB and NBA.
J.T. Brown, claimed on waivers from Tampa Bay yesterday, is expected to make his Ducks debut this afternoon wearing No. 71. The 27-year-old forward, who Randy Carlyle says can play all three forward positions, has collected 61 points (19g/42a) with 180 penalty minutes in 286 career NHL games with Tampa Bay. Brown has also appeared in 37 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, earning six points (1g/5a). The 5-10, 170-pound winger was a member of the 2014-15 Lightning team that reached the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, playing 24 postseason games and all six contests in the Final vs. Chicago. Signed by Tampa Bay on March 28, 2012, Brown recorded four points (1g/3a) with 12 penalty minutes in 24 games with Tampa Bay this season.
This marks the second game of a three-game season series between the Ducks and Avs, and the final contest held in Denver. The Ducks have posted a 40-34-12 all-time record vs. the Avs, including an 18-18-7 mark on the road. Anaheim has won four of the last five games vs. Colorado and two of the last three at Pepsi Center. The series opener featured a 3-1 Avs victory on October 13. Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf paces the club in scoring with 35 points (11g/24a) in 39 games. These teams will conclude the season series on Saturday, April 1 at Honda Center.
The Avs come into today's matchup riding a six-game winning streak for the first time since March 25-April 5, 2014. Furthermore, the Avs are 11-3-1 in their last 15 games and 6-1-0 in their last seven at home. This is the opener of a three-game homestand for Colorado, with additional games against San Jose on Thursday and the New York Rangers on Saturday. All-Star bound for the second time in his young career, Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche in scoring and ranks tied for fourth in the NHL in scoring with 53 points (19g/34a) in 42 games. The former No. 1 overall pick of the 2013 NHL Draft also ranks second in the NHL in points-per-game (1.26) and eighth in assists. MacKinnon paces the Avs in all three scoring categories, game-winning goals (5) and shots (140), and co-leads in power-play goals (7). The Avs enter today's game as the fifth-highest scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.29 goals per game. They have scored a league-leading 84 goals on home ice.
