Maybe this will be the night when the Avalanche finally win at the Pepsi Center. They take an eight-game home losing streak (0-7-1) into their game with Calgary on Tuesday following the three-day Christmas break.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
It probably isn't much of an advantage considering how the Avalanche plays at home, but the Flames had to travel Tuesday morning because of the NHL ban on practices and traveling the day after Christmas. They went right from the airport to the arena for the morning skate.
"We were joking about it, saying this is the way it should be, right out of the wrapper," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Onto the plane and onto the ice, guys holding their bags. It was back to old school, like peewee. We're just going to get ready to play. We talked about it before when we went through the schedule, that this one is a game where we're going to grind it out. We're going to come in here and get it done."
Former Avalanche goalie Brian Elliott is expected to start for the Flames (18-16-2). He only faced 14 shots Friday in a 4-1 win against Vancouver.
Calvin Pickard will start for the Avalanche (12-20-1) after making 38 saves Friday in a 2-1 overtime win in Chicago. Semyon Varlamov remains out with a groin injury, so Jeremy Smith will dress as the backup following his recall from San Antonio. Spencer Martin remains with the Rampage to get in some games.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said that Varlamov would be "reevaluated" Tuesday night to determine his prognosis.
"I'm hoping that our guys are going to come refreshed out of the break," Bednar said. "Maybe that little bit of a mental break will do them some good. We're coming off a big win in Chicago where the guys played real well. We've talked about this before, trying to duplicate performances like that. They've been a little too few and far between.
"We have the ability to play well if guys are focused and competing hard. We did that there in a tough situation and came out with a win. That will be our goal tonight, to make sure we're playing more games like that than we did in the first part of the season."
Forward Joe Colborne will face his former Flames teammates for the first time since signing with the Avalanche as a free agent July 1. He wasn't tendered a qualifying offer after scoring a career-high 19 goals last season.
It's been a tough go for Colborne since opening night, when he had a hat trick in a 6-5 win against Dallas. He has no goals and one assist in 26 games since then. He missed two games with a lower-body injury and has been a healthy scratch four times.
"It's going to be fun to go out there and hopefully stick it to 'em and get two big points for us," said Colborne, a Calgary native who spent three seasons with the Flames. "We played one of our best games before the break against Chicago and we're coming back fresh and ready to kind of put the start of the season behind us and turn a new page.
"I have so many friends on the other side, it's going to be weird watching them warm up down at the other end. At the same time, once you get out there, that first shift, I'm going to make sure that I finish some checks early and send a message to some of those guys."
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Mikhail Grigorenko -- Matt Duchene -- Rene Bourque Blake Comeau -- Carl Soderberg -- Jarome Iginla Joe Colborne -- John Mitchell -- Andreas Martinsen
DEFENSE Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie Francois Beauchemin -- Nikita Zadorov Cody Golubef - Eric Gelinas
GOALIES Calvin Pickard Jeremy Smith