Avalanche Looking Forward to Long Homestay

The Colorado Avalanche will be spending a lot of time at home over the next month, allowing the players a chance to refresh from the grind of the road and give the team a prime opportunity to climb the standings.
Colorado opens a nine-game homestand tonight against the Anaheim Ducks at Ball Arena, the site of 15 of the squad's next 17 contests overall.
"It's an important stretch for us, no question," said head coach Jared Bednar after morning skate. "I feel like every year that I've been here we've had a stretch of five home games in a row that's always been a key point for our season. A couple years we didn't handle it very well and then bounced back on the road, and a few years we've handled that home stretch real well and it kind of set us up for success down the stretch."

The Avs are currently third in the West Division with 25 points (12-7-1 record) and a .625 points percentage after 20 contests. They are four points behind the first-place Vegas Golden Knights and are one of five clubs that are within six points of one another entering Friday's matchups. All eight West teams will be in action this evening.
Colorado will face the Ducks (three times total), Arizona Coyotes (twice), Los Angeles Kings (twice) and Minnesota Wild (twice) during this homestand, with all of those divisional foes currently below the squad in the standings.
Overall, the Avs will play six of the other seven teams in their division during their 15-of-17 games at Ball Arena. The only time they will be away from their friendly confines in the next four weeks is for a quick back-to-back in Arizona on March 22-23.
"Just hanging out at home and sleeping in your own bed and not having to travel. Obviously that pays dividends, and I think you get better quality rest that way," said forward Nazem Kadri. "Obviously no fans in the building yet, but we can certainly try and use home ice to our advantage and come out with as many points as possible."
Colorado's nine-game homestay is the longest continuous homestand in franchise history. The team did have a nine-game homestand in 2001-02, but that was wrapped around the Olympic Break.
Tonight's contest is also the first half of Colorado's fourth back-to-back of the season, as the Avs and Ducks face off again in downtown Denver on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT.
Playing on consecutive nights on home ice is also a rarity for the Avalanche. This set marks only the 11th back-to-back with both games at home for club since moving to Colorado in 1995-96, and it's the eighth time since 1999 when Ball Arena opened.
The Avalanche's last time playing on home ice on consecutive days was Oct. 23-24, 2009 when it won 5-4 against the Carolina Hurricanes on the first night and beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 the following day.

LINEUP NOTES

Head coach Jared Bednar said he won't make any changes to his lineup this evening. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer will start for the fourth-straight game and the 18th time this season.
Nathan MacKinnon is expected to play after leaving midway through the third period of Wednesday's outing at the San Jose Sharks with an injury. MacKinnon was on the receiving end of an illegal check to the head from Joachim Blichfeld, who was ejected after receiving a match penalty and was then suspended two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Thursday.
Defenseman Bowen Byram will miss his third straight game, while Cale Makar will be out for his fourth consecutive contest. Both are day-to-day with upper-body ailments.
View: Avalanche Projected Lineup vs. Ducks

NOTEWORTHY

Gabriel Landeskog didn't take part in morning skate as his wife Melissa gave birth to the couple's second child on Thursday, a baby boy. Bednar said he gave Landeskog the morning off to be with his family, but the team captain is expected to play this evening.
Matt Calvert (upper body) participated in morning skate in a red, non-contact jersey, and Bednar said the forward could possibly return to the lineup as early as Saturday.
Defenseman Samuel Girard is on a three-game point streak (two goals, two assists), tied for his career long.
The Avs have scored a power-play goal in five-straight games (5-for-18, 27.8 percent), matching their longest run of the season (Jan. 13-22).
Colorado is beginning its fourth of eight back-to-backs this season. The team is 2-1-0 in the first game and 2-0-1 in the second, sweeping its previous set last weekend at the Arizona Coyotes.

ONE TIMERS

Nazem Kadri on the power play:
"I think it is just getting some puck luck. We're moving the puck fast and efficient, so that always helps, and trying to be more aggressive on the rush and attack a little more and work to get pucks back and just reset. I think the amount of skill we have on that unit, it's only a matter of time. Sometimes you just have to hit the reset button."
Andre Burakovsky on playing at home:
"It's great. It feels like we haven't played any home games really, so it's going to be really nice to be home for a while here and sleep in our own bed and just being home. The last road trip felt like forever, and it's really good to be home."
Head coach Jared Bednar on San Jose's Joachim Blichfeld's two-game suspension:
"[Blichfeld is] coming at him trying to do a job, he doesn't elevate upwards, he doesn't do any of those things that sometimes players do when it's a predatory hit. But he's coming at him, and he gets caught at a bad angle, he's too steep on Nate and just clips his chin. It is what it is. I still stick with [what I said postgame], I don't think it was intentional like he was coming to take a real big run at him and hit him in the head, but that's where he caught him so I think two games is good."