Avs Prepared for Tough Task versus Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks are in eighth place in the West Division but have strung a couple of wins together and the Colorado Avalanche will have to be prepared for a battle from the drop of the puck tonight at Ball Arena.
The Ducks just swept a two-game set at the St. Louis Blues and are coming off a 3-2 overtime win on Sunday. They are 11-19-6 on the season but have a 3-3-0 record in their last six outings, with two of those losses coming in one-goal games at the Minnesota Wild.
"Anaheim's been playing much better lately. They just beat St. Louis twice, played two real close games against Minnesota," said head coach Jared Bednar. "Seems to be a more dangerous team on the rush here recently than the last time we saw them. Their goaltending has been really good, and they've played us real well this year already.

"I think we are 3-1-1 against them, they are 2-1-2 against us, so it's been a tough matchup for us this year. I think with them playing last night, the start will be real important that we come out energized and physical."

The Avalanche had Sunday off and the players will want to take advantage of their fresh legs in the matchup. The Avs last played on Saturday afternoon, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights, a game after they earned a 5-1 win versus the Knights.
The OT loss extended Colorado's season-high point streak to 10 games (8-0-2), but it ended the team's seven-game home winning streak.
"I thought our first game against Vegas was really good, I thought we kind of let off the gas a little bit in the second one," said defenseman Ryan Graves. "But the Ducks are playing well right now, they are a hot team coming in--they just beat St. Louis twice in a row--so we got to be ready for a good game. They check hard, they have good goalies and they can strike offensively, so we have to be ready."
Tonight's outing is the sixth of the eight-game season series between Colorado and Anaheim. The Avs trailed by two goals at some point in four of the five contests against the Ducks, rallying to win two of those contests and gaining a point in another (2-1-1).
Three of the five previous meeting between the clubs took place this month at Ball Arena. The Avalanche went 2-0-1 in those matchups, helping the team earn a 10-2-3 record so far in March, tied with Pittsburgh for the most points (23) in the NHL for this month.
"I think we've been on a hot roll here, so we just got to keep it going. Anaheim, saw a little video of them this morning, they've been cooking a little bit these last couple games," said forward Andre Burakovsky. "We are going to have to be ready and come in and play a full 60-minute game and not just 40 or 30. So we got to be hard on the puck from the start."

LINEUP NOTES

Head coach Jared Bednar said that there will be no changes to the Avalanche's lineup this evening. With that, Philipp Grubauer is expected to get the start in goal, his 28th of the season.
He leads the NHL in shutouts (five) and among goaltenders who have appeared in at least 10 games, the German netminder ranks first in goals-against average (1.73) and is tied for first in save percentage (.930).
Rookie defenseman Bowen Byram will miss his second game in a row with an upper-body injury that he sustained on a high hit in Thursday's contest against the Vegas Golden Knights. He remains day-to-day and did not participate in today's morning skate.
VIEW: Avalanche vs. Ducks Projected Lineup

NOTEWORTHY

This is the Avalanche's first double-digit point streak since Nov. 11-Dec. 2, 2018 (9-0-2).
With a victory tonight, the Avs would match their franchise record for wins in a single month set in February 2020 (11-3-1), March 2007 (11-1-2) and January 2004 (11-1-2-2).
The Avs are allowing the fewest goals-against per game (2.24) and have scored the third most goals per game (3.42), the only NHL team to rank among the top three in both categories.
Colorado has out-shot its opposition in 26 of its 33 contests this season (most in the NHL) and owns an 18-6-2 record when holding an edge in shots, the most wins of any club.
The Avs have allowed just three power-play goals in the last 10 games (28-for-31, 90.3 percent). The team is 16-4-2 when shutting out the opposition's power play this year.
The Avalanche's top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen has combined for 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) and a plus-18 rating in the last six contests. Over the last nine games, the trio has recorded 41 points (16 goals, 25 assists) and a plus-27 rating.
Rantanen shares the league lead with 11 goals in March and is tied for third in points (21).

ONE TIMERS

Jared Bednar on moving Joonas Donskoi to the first power-play unit and Nazem Kadri to the second: "We switched them last game for two reasons. I think a different look with a right-handed shot in the middle of the ice. Donskoi's clearly on top of his game and making plays and been a real dangerous player for us offensively, so hopefully that can spark that unit a little bit. Also, just makes sense a little bit to put Naz in the other unit because it's a power play with (Brandon) Saad and (Andre) Burakovsky and that is their line. Hopefully he can help those guys in the middle of the ice there as well with a center on that line too. We have Landy to take draws on the other side (in the first unit) and now Naz can go in on that other unit and help win them some faceoffs and keep some extended zone time."
Andre Burakovsky on playing on Sweden's national junior teams with goaltender Jonas Johansson:"I did play with him on the national team, I think we were under-16, under-17 and 18. I mean, that's back in the day we played together. I always knew he was a great guy, great goalie, had a lot of fun with him back in the day with the junior national team. I am not going to say I am that familiar with him [nowadays], but I've been playing with him, I know him a little bit, so it's fun to have him here."
Ryan Graves on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare: "He is always light, he is always laughing, he is such a good personality. What you see in the media and what he portrays to the public is exactly how he is. He is always laughing, he is funny, so he is great for us, and he has veteran leadership as well."