CANADIENS AT AVALANCHE
Here are five things you need to know when the Montreal Canadiens travel to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche tonight (9:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN-690), writes Pat Hickey.
1
The matchup
This is the second meeting between these teams. The Canadiens ran up a 3-0 lead and held on to beat the Avalanche 4-2 at Bell Centre on Jan. 23. The Avalanche were clinging to a wild-card spot in the Western Conference when they arrived in Montreal, but Colorado has slumped to 4-5-1 in the intervening weeks and are now two points behind the Minnesota Wild in the fight for the final spot.
2
Danault still out
Phillip Danault will miss his 12th game since being hit on the head by a Zdeno Chara slapshot. Danault has passed concussion protocol and has been cleared for contact, but coach Claude Julien decided to give him more rest. Danault, who has been practising for three days, is hoping he plays at some point on this four-game road trip.
3
Avs are hurting
Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche’s leading scorer, will miss his seventh consecutive game with a shoulder injury. MacKinnon joined his teammates for practice Monday, but was wearing a noncontact jersey. MacKinnon was being mentioned as a Hart Trophy candidate before he was injured. Colorado is also missing two players familiar to Montreal fans — defenceman Mark Barberio and forward Sven Andrighetto. They were both having career seasons before they were injured.
4
Power play is clicking
The Canadiens failed to score a power-play goal in their 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville on Saturday, but Montreal ranks 10th in the league with a success rate of 21.4 per cent. The Canadiens have scored on nine of their last 27 opportunities — a 33-per-cent success rate. The power play will face a major test because Colorado has the fourth-best penalty killing unit in the NHL with an 83.5-per-cent success rate.
5
Better, but not good enough The Habs have scored 30 goals in their last 10 games, an average of three a game. It’s an improvement on their season average of 2.58, which ranks 28th in the NHL, but Montreal finished that 10-game segment with a 4-5-1 record. The Canadiens are also 28th in faceoff percentage at 47.7 per cent, but they should have a field day against Colorado, last in faceoff percentage at 44 per cent.