Preview: Avalanche Playing Duck Hunt

Tonight, the Colorado Avalanche take on the Anaheim Ducks and are looking to come out strong on home ice after their mandatory five-day bye period. The Ducks are playing solid hockey, so Colorado really must be careful with their start in the first, that’s been one of their major problems. We’ll see early on if the long break helps or hurts them.

(Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

The Avalanche aren’t a last-place team, but that is where they currently sit, and where they will stay if their play doesn’t improve immediately. The previous game against the New York Islanders was a start in the right direction, as they finally snapped a 10 game home losing streak. That simply cannot happen anymore, to state the obvious.

There’s been a lot of rumors going around about Colorado possibly trading a core piece of their team, and the best way to stop those rumors is to start winning hockey games. Step one, duck hunting!


Colorado Avalanche vs Anaheim Ducks

Pepsi Center – 7 p.m. MT

Broadcast channels – ALT 2, PRIME

2016-17 Season Series: first meeting of the season.

Colorado Avalanche – 13-25-1 – 27 Points

Home Record: 5-13-1

Hot Players: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Tyson Barrie

Key Injuries: Erik Johnson

Projected lines:

Forwards

Gabe Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Matt Nieto – Matt Duchene – Rene Bourque

Blake Comeau – Carl Soderberg – Jarome Iginla

Cody McLeod – Mikhail Grigorenko – Andreas Martinsen

Defense

Fedor Tyutin – Tyson Barrie

Nikita Zadorov – Patrick Wiercioch

Francois Beauchemin – Cody Goloubef

Starting Goaltender

Semyon Varlamov

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Anaheim Ducks – 22-13-8 – 52 Points

Road Record: 8-8-6

Hot Players: Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg

Key Injuries: Simon Despres, Clayton Stoner, Nate Thompson

Projected lines:

Forwards

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Nick Ritchie – Antoine Vermette – Ondrej Kase

Joseph Cramarossa – Logan Shaw – Jared Boll

Defense

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Shea Theodore – Kevin Bieksa

Starting Goaltender

John Gibson


Game Notes

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]1)[/miptheme_dropcap] This will be a game which features two of the very best teams in winning face-offs. The Ducks are 1st in the NHL with a 55.5% record in the dot, while the Avalanche sit 3rd at 53.1%.

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]2)[/miptheme_dropcap] Tonight will be Jarome Iginla’s 1,514th game, which will tie him with Steve Yzerman for 15th overall. It will also be Blake Comeau’s 600th NHL game.

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]3)[/miptheme_dropcap] Anaheim are hoping to have their Captain Ryan Getzlaf back in the lineup tonight. He had missed the last four games due to a lower-back injury.

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]4)[/miptheme_dropcap] The Avalanche also get a key player back in goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who had been struggling with groin issues for quite some time.

http://gty.im/493012580

Lately when these two teams have played each other, it’s been a very physical match up. Look for that to continue and let’s hope it can spark the Avalanche to victory.