The Avalanche will attempt to win their second game in a row Tuesday -- it would be their first two-game winning streak since Nov. 19-21 -- when they take on Montreal at the Pepsi Center.
Here are the
GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche didn't have a morning skate or player availability, but coach
Jared Bednar said after practice Monday that
Tyson Barrie and
Rene Bourque wouldn't play against the Canadiens because of lower-body injuries.
Fedor Tyutin did practice -- he's been battling hip and groin injuries -- and might play.
The Avalanche can't play worse in the rematch than they did in Montreal on Dec. 10 when they were shellacked 10-1.
"We kind of buried that game," Bednar said. "There was so much that went wrong with it. No. 1, we got outworked and No. 2., it was a poor day for us as far as our execution. They made us look silly that night. My belief is, with some of those games, you have to sweep them under the rug and move on."
Semyon Varlamov made 51 saves the next night in Toronto, where the Avalanche won 3-1.
"How we responded to me is the most important thing, not that we played a perfect game in Toronto by any means," Bednar said. "They had us on the run a little bit too. Mentally being fragile at that point, to be able to go in and get a great game from Varly and get a win there the next night was probably the thing we were looking at the most. From then on we haven't looked back at it."
Defenseman
Mark Barberio will play his second game for the Avalanche since he was claimed on waivers from the Canadiens.
"He's awesome," said
Max Pacioretty, who leads the Canadiens in scoring with 44 points (25 goals, 19 assists). "I love Barbs, everyone loved Barbs. It's bittersweet, you want to see him play in the NHL and have success. He was so close to so many guys on this team that we wanted him to be here. Happy that he's getting an opportunity and he's playing in the NHL, but we miss him a lot. He's a great guy."
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS
Mikhail Grigorenko-- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Matt Duchene -- Matt Nieto
Blake Comeau -- John Mitchell -- Jarome Iginla
Andreas Martinsen -- Carl Soderberg -- Joe Colborne
DEFENSEMEN
Francois Beauchemin -- Nikita Zadorov
Fedor Tyutin or Eric Gelinas -- Patrick Wiercioch
Mark Barberio -- Cody Goloubef
GOALIES
Calvin Pickard
Spencer Martin
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
Join the Discussion:
»