In a game where the Avalanche said they needed to come out and be better, they weren't. While they allowed less than 30 shots for the first time since the All-Star break, the Avs continued to allow turnovers and they let sloppy possession keep them from taking advantage of one of the Western conference's weaker teams. Now the Avs head on the road where they have had a better record and face-off against a team in transition.
The Ottawa Senators completed one of the bigger trades in recent memory on Tuesday when they acquired Maple Leafs captain, Dion Phaneuf in a nine player trade. While the trade unloaded some current heavy contracts, it placed a heavy long term burden in Phaneuf on the team. Phaneuf, who is still due five years of seven million a year has been faltering defensively in recent years and didn't show many signs of improvement in his first game as a Senator Wednesday night, as he allowed Henrik Zetterberg to skate right by him for the game's second goal. Phaneuf will try to show some signs of life for his new team in his home debut Thursday night, however.
LINES
Grigorenko-MacKinnon-Duchene
Landeskog-Soderberg-Comeau
Tanguay-Wagner-Iginla
McLeod-Mitchell-Martinsen
Beauchemin-Johnson
Holden-Barrie
Bigras-Bodnarchuk
Varlamov
Pickard
Scratches: Redmond
NOTES
- After four straight losses at home, they Avs have returned to having a losing home record.
- The Senators own the league's worse penalty kill percentage.
- Senators defenseman, Erik Karlsson leads the league in assists (49).
GAME INFO
Game time: 5:30pm MT
TV: ALT