Avs Face Habs In First Of Back-To-Back Set

The Colorado Avalanche (10-14-1) enters the second half of a four-game road trip against the Montreal Canadiens (18-6-3) on Saturday for the first for the first meeting this season. The two clubs then collide for the second and final time on Feb. 7 at the Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche is 16-7-3-0 all-time against the Canadiens and 7-5-2-0 on the road.

Last Time Out

The Avalanche snapped a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) with a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins, on Friday night. Colorado got off to an early 3-0 lead with unassisted goals from Matt Duchene, Nathan Mackinnon and John Mitchell. Boston rallied to bring the game within one before Carl Soderberg netted his fourth goal of the season to ensure the victory. The Avs scored the first goal against the Bruins and are now 5-2 when getting the first tally. Calvin Pickard started his eighth game between the pipes and made 29 saves on the night, upping his record to 5-2-1.
"I thought it was a real big effort last night in Boston, and it's something that we're hopefully going to build on here," Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said after practice on Friday. "We have to build on it. We have to finish this road trip off on a good note and finish off strong."
The Canadiens sit atop the Atlantic Division with an 18-6-3 record and started a four-game homestand by defeating the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Friday night. Carey Price made 19 saves in the match and Montreal improved to 13-1-1 at home.

Last Time They Met

Jarome Iginla netted his second goal of the night with 2:03 remaining to give the Avs a 3-2 win over Montreal on Feb. 17. Erik Johnson potted the first goal for the Avs and Duchene had two helpers. Colorado killed all three power plays while capitalizing once on the man-advantage.

What to Watch For

Home vs. Road
The Avalanche looks to continue its momentum on the road after losing five straight at home. Colorado is 6-6 on the road this season while only 4-8-1 on home ice.
Faceoffs
The Avs rank second in the league in faceoff win percentage (53.8 percent) and first in offensive zone win percentage (57.6 percent). Montreal is currently 25th in the league with 48.4 win percentage.
Momentus Milestone
Avalanche veteran Jarome Iginla is expected to play in his 1,500th career NHL game on Saturday. The 39-year-old forward will become just the 16th player in league history to reach the plateau when he passes Mike Modano for sole possession of the 16th spot in the sport's annals.

Player to Watch

Colorado: Matt Duchene
Duchene leads the team with 10 goals, all of which have all came in road appearances. He also has two helpers in the team's 10 away contests and leads the team in goals (10) and sits second in points (17).
Montreal: Goalie Carey Price
Price is currently ranked number one in the NHL with 15 wins in net. The 29-year-old goalkeeper also possesses a 1.83 goal-against average and .940 save percentage.

Lineup Notes

Calvin Pickard will make his ninth start of the season and his second consecutive start on this road trip.
"We really liked his game last night, and we're going to see if he can pull another one out for us," said Bednar.
Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog will play for the first time after being absent since Nov. 15 with a lower body injury. Landeskog missed 10 games during that span.
"Everything is feeling good. I've had some good practices and morning skates and some tests on where things have been going well, and I'm feeling good," Landeskog said on Friday. "We want to make sure that we don't have any setbacks. Our medical team has done a great job taking care of me, which has been really helpful, both as far as the injury goes but also making sure I'm staying patient mentally as well. It's been good."

The Details

The puck drops at 5 p.m MT on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Altitude TV will broadcast the game, and fans can listen to the action on 92.5 FM The Wolf or at
ColoradoAvalanche.com
.