Forgot to mention earlier that I wrote a feature story on Nathan MacKinnon for NHL.com that is on the site. He's the obvious choice to win the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year. The franchise has had two Calder winners -- Chris Drury and Gabriel Landeskog -- since the team has been in Denver.
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Now it's on to Montreal for the Avalanche following Sunday's 3-1 win in Ottawa, where goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped 38 shots and lost his shutout with six seconds left on a goal by Mika Zibanejad after the Senators pulled goalie Robin Lehner for a sixth skater.
"I haven't looked forward for that game at all," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said of his return to the city for Tuesday's game where he won two Stanley Cups and where his No. 33 Canadiens jersey is hanging from the Bell Centre rafters, along with those of all the other Montreal greats.
"Now I'm going to think about it, but before I was not really focusing on this," Roy said. "I've been talking to our players about a partnership with them and I want them to focus on what we have to do every night and take it one day at a time, and I have to do the same thing.
"I have a lot of respect for the Montreal organization, respect for the fans in Montreal; they were a big part of my career. My 10 years there were outstanding. Now that we're going to play them, I'm going to try and approach it as (just another) hockey game."
That won't be the case, of course, especially with the game coming one day after St. Patrick's Day. Guess you can call it St. Patrick's Night when the Avalanche and Canadiens meet Tuesday.
"I think everyone kind of had this one marked on their calendar," center John Mitchell said. "It's going to be something special for Patty. It should be a fun-filled night with lots of energy going on in that building."
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Varlamov bounced back from Friday's 6-4 loss to Anaheim with a big game against the Senators. Ottawa outshot the Avalanche 20-8 in the second period and 39-22 for the game.
"Very solid, he made some key saves, especially in the second period where we had a little bit too many turnovers," Roy said. "Varly was there for us and gave us a chance to stay in the game. Our goalie was without a doubt the first star of the game, but I thought our guys did a better job in the third period. We made better decisions at our blue line and in the neutral zone and keeping it more simple. It's a big win for us."
Said Mitchell: "We have to give huge credit to Varly for this win. That last goal, we certainly wish we could have get that one back because he played so well. We know we have a chance when he's in net every single night, even if we don't play at our best."
Varlamov collected his career-high 34th win, but his teammates would have liked to have helped him register his second shutout of the season. He lost a shutout on opening night when the Ducks scored with seven seconds left in a 6-1 Avalanche win.
"We were all a little pissed off to see that happen," Roy said of Zibanejad's goal Sunday. " I mean, Varly played so well. The guys mentioned the last two, three minutes they wanted to get the shutout for him. (Ottawa) made a great play and it was a great shot. They went to the net and made a great screen, but it was an outstanding performance by our goalie."
The Avalanche improved to 21-9-2 on the road.
"We try to play the same way as we do at home," Mitchell said. "We want to play with speed, be physical, chip pucks in. It wasn't the prettiest effort by us, but we stuck with it and we chipped away and we got the win."
Mitchell, who had a goal and an assist Friday, scored his ninth goal of the season with 2:58 remaining in the third period to make it 3-0. He parked in front of the net and scored to complete the work of linemates Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, who each had assists on the play.
Mitchell has been centering Landeskog and MacKinnon in the absence of Paul Stastny, who remains out with a back injury.
"It's pretty easy to play with those two guys," Mitchell said. "Landy is such a big, strong guy and he takes pucks to the net. MacKinnon just has tremendous skill with his speed and vision. I just try to get the puck in their hands and get to the front of the net."
The Avalanche also got goals from defensemen Andre Benoit and Nick Holden. Benoit, who left Ottawa as a free agent last summer, took a nice pass from Patrick Bordeleau, moved down the slot and scored with 4:11 left in the second period for a 1-0 lead.
Holden scored a power-play goal at 3:10 of the third period to make it 2-0. He moved from the left point to the front of the net and cashed in Jamie McGinn's pass for his seventh goal.
"We like to see our 'D' going in on the offense," Roy said. "It was a really nice play by Bordy and a nice shot (by Benoit). Our 'D' has the freedom to go in the offense."
Defenseman Erik Johnson was in the lineup after getting a match penalty Friday. He played 22:17, had three hits and two blocked shots ... Matt Duchene had two assists ... The Avalanche used seven defensemen. Paul Carey and Ryan Wilson were scratched.