Preview: A physical rematch is set for Avalanche and Senators

The Avalanche look to win a wild one in Ottawa!

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

Tonight, the Colorado Avalanche will take their talents west of Parliament Hill to the Canadian Tire Center in Kanata, Ontario, for a matchup with the Ottawa Senators.

The Sens made minced meat of the Las Vegas Golden Knights there last time, and they hope to build on that dominating 7-1 victory after struggling to match Carolina’s game and blowing a three-goal lead against the Nashville Predators.

The Avalanche are in their least successful stretch of the season, losing three of five (Nashville, Anaheim

& Philly). Colorado got right in Toronto on the back of a hat-trick from Brock Nelson in their last contest. Will it be the Senators or the Avalanche that start a new winning streak?

Colorado Avalanche: 35-6-9

The Opponent: Ottawa Senators 24-21-7

Time: 5:30 p.m. MT

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Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado took care of some future endeavors this week by extending Sam Malinski’s contract, but the back end is still a bit unsettled, with Keaton Middleton set to round out the group tonight. Brennan Vogt reports that Keaton has made strong efforts to alter his game this season with the Eagles, namely doing his best to stay out of the penalty box. I imagine the Avalanche does its best to limit his ice time, and his focus should remain on staying out of the sin bin, that is, unless it’s in the form of dues paid for fearless fistacuffs.

Ross Colton is listed as day-to-day now, so that means we will see another shuffling of the forward group with an AHLer or two sprinkled into the bottom six. I wonder if this is an actual injury or if the Avalanche is taking Colton off the ice ahead of a potential trade. Rumors have circulated regarding Evander Kane, Nazem Kadri (weird), but it’s hard to pinpoint which assets would work in a deal for a team that’s so close to the cap already. That’s pure speculation, though.

I think this bruised-and-battered group is more realistic, seeing as how, come playoff time, some guys are bound to miss time. I’d like to see this team show some professionalism and resolve against an Eastern Conference foe despite the missing pieces.

Projected Lineup:

Victor Olofsson — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Gavin Brindley
Taylor Makar — Zakhar Bardakov — Joel Kiviranta

Sam Malinski — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Keaton Middleton — Samuel Girard

MacKenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Ottawa Senators

The Senators are at the bottom of the Atlantic Division, inside a conference that is finally starting to show some separation. At one point, last in the Atlantic was still just three or four points out of the wild card. It’s pretty much make-or-break time for the Senators, but even their best efforts might land them at too-little too-late.

Tim Stutzle is the one to watch in terms of an offensive threat, as he leads the team with 53 points (23 goals – 30 assists) and has four points in his last four games. On the back end, take a look at Jake Sanderson, who has the third most points on the team (amongst forwards and defencemen).

Linus Ullmark is back in the net for the Senators after a slump and an uncomfortable time frame. It’s been made abundantly clear that this team goes where Ullmark goes. All that to say, James Reimer is the likely starter for tonight’s contest.

I can tell you one thing for sure: it’s fair to expect a ton of goals tonight. Evan Liu hit us with a crazy stat on yesterday’s episode of the Mile High Hockey Lab: The Avalanche and Senators have combined for 85 goals in the last nine games between the two of them.