The Avalanche open their season-long five-game road trip Saturday against the New York Rangers, the first of a back-to-back set that continues Sunday against the Islanders.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche have lost seven consecutive road games (0-6-1) since a 2-1 overtime win in Chicago on Dec. 23.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves in a 6-2 win against the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on New Year's Eve to pass Dominic Hasek for the most wins by a European-born goalie in NHL history. Now, he needs one win for 400; only 11 goalies have reached that milestone.
The Rangers have won four in a row and Lundqvist is 7-1-0 in his past eight starts with a 2.01 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
The Avalanche figure to have a difficult time keeping New York's offense in check; the Rangers average 3.39 goals per game, second most in the league. The Avalanche give up that many per game.
If it's close heading to the third period, the Avalanche will have their hands full. The Rangers have outscored teams 74-48 in the third, while the Avalanche have been outscored 61-32.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie is questionable for Saturday. He's missed three games in a row with a lower-body injury and seven of the past nine. He's done some skating but hasn't participated in contact practices.
The Avalanche didn't have a morning skate, so will assume Calvin Pickard starts in goal. Hardly a stretch.
The Avalanche have a power-play goal in three consecutive games (3-for-7) for the first time this season ... Mikko Rantanen (three goals, two assists), Gabriel Landeskog (one goal, three assists) and Nathan MacKinnon (one goal, three assists) have three-game point streaks ... Matt Duchene has five assists but no goals in the past eight games ... Mikhail Grigorenko has two assists and no goals in seven games.
Probable Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Mikhail Grigorenko -- Matt Duchene -- Matt Nieto Blake Comeau -- John Mitchell -- Jarome Iginla Andreas Martinsen -- Carl Soderberg -- Joe Colborne
DEFENSE Francois Beauchemin -- Nikita Zadorov Mark Barberio -- Cody Goloubef Fedor Tyutin -- Patrick Wiercioch
GOALIES Calvin Pickard Jeremy Smith