Seymon Varlamov returns to the crease to face his former Washington Capitals teammates when the Avalanche continue their road trip Tuesday night in the nation's capital.
Here are the
AVALANCHE CAPITALS game notes.
Varlamov was the backup Monday when
Calvin Pickard made 28 saves and
Gabriel Landeskog scored the second of his two goals 22 seconds into overtime in the Avalanche's 4-3 win in Pittsburgh.
Landeskog drove to the net on the winning goal to redirect a
Nathan MacKinnon shot/pass that hit Penguins defenseman
Kris Letang and caromed in the air. Landeskog swatted it over goalie
Marc-Andre Fleury.
Here's video of the
OT GOAL.
Varlamov made 23 saves Saturday in the Avalanche's 6-5 season-opening win against Dallas at the Pepsi Center. He has a 2-2-0 career record against the Capitals with a 1.78 goals-against average and .956 save percentage.
The Capitals (1-0-1) haven't played since a 2-1 win Saturday against the New York Islanders. They won both games against the Avalanche last season by a combined score of 11-5.
The Capitals will honor Vezina Trophy-winning goalie
Braden Holtby in a pregame ceremony, but he's getting the night off.
Philipp Grubauer will get his first start of the season. Grubauer, 24, went 8-9-1 last season with a 2.32 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in 22 games. It will be his first game against the Avalanche.
While the Avalanche power play has been potent, converting four of nine advantages, they need to get a lot better killing penalties. After going through the six-game preseason without allowing a power-play goal, Colorado has killed just five of nine penalties. That has to change against a dangerous Capitals team led by
Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and
John Carlson.
The Avalanche also need to get off to a better start. They've had to overcome early 2-0 deficits in each of the first two games.
The expected Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Jarome Iginla
Mikhail Grigorenko -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Duchene
Gabriel Bourque -- Joe Colborne -- Rene Bourque
Andreas Martinsen -- Ben Smith -- Blake Comeau
DEFENSE
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Francois Beauchemin -- Tyson Barrie
Fedor Tyutin -- Patrick Wiercioch
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Eric Gelinas, Cody McLeod
Injured: John Mitchell (hip, not on trip)
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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