Music: {allcanada} SENATORS (16-15-8) at AVALANCHE (16-16-8)

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

{allcanada} SENATORS (16-15-8) at AVALANCHE (16-16-8)

Amazon.com / Babes / Ben Affleck / Amazon.ca

Thursday, January 8, 2015

9:00 PM ET

SENATORS (16-15-8) at AVALANCHE (16-16-8)

TV: RDS, TSN5, ALT

Season series: The Colorado Avalanche got off to a quick start in their first game this season against the Ottawa Senators, scoring three goals in the first period. But Ottawa rallied with three of its own in the third, with Bobby Ryan and Clarke MacArthur scoring the tying and game-winning goals 3:04 apart in a 5-3 home victory on Oct. 16. Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard allowed four goals on 27 shots in his NHL debut after entering the game when starter Reto Berra was injured.

Senators team scope: After opening their four-game road trip with a 2-1 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, the Senators remain in seventh place in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa is within reach of the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but despite picking up points in four of their past five games, the logjam of teams in the playoff hunt means that the Senators will have to improve their play if they're to make the postseason. Coach Dave Cameron said Wednesday he expects forward Curtis Lazar to be in the lineup against Colorado. Lazar is returning from the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship in which captained Canada to the gold medal on Monday.

Avalanche team scope: Semyon Varlamov is coming off one of the NHL's most impressive goaltending performances in years; he stopped 54 shots in a 2-0 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Varlamov's 54 saves are the most in a road shutout since shots on goal became an official statistic in 1955-56 and are tied for the second-highest total in a shutout since the NHL expanded in 1967. "Obviously, Varly was the story of the game," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said afterward. "He was outstanding out there." The win was Colorado's third in its past four games, but the first in regulation since Dec. 23. Despite their recent success, however, the Avalanche are third from the bottom in the Western Conference and seven points out of the final wild-card playoff berth.

Team Stats