Colorado Avalanche Gameday: A historical rival visits a new era of “Nordiques hockey”

The Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens are on two separate tracks heading to opposite ends of the standings. The Avs are one of the best in the league, while the Canadiens are competing with the Arizona Coyotes for last in the league.

With nearly opposite records, this game will once again be on National TV with the Avs aiming for their sixth straight win while the Canadiens look for any way to turn around their season.

Colorado Avalanche

As mentioned above, the Avs are going for win number six in a row to start a three game home stand. Of course, we all know the record-breaking run they are on at home as well, winning their last 14 games at Ball Arena.

The Avs have had their best start in franchise history almost halfway through the season. With a 27-8-3 record 38 games into the year, they have a lot to show their success. As of late, it has been goaltending with Pavel Francouz shutting out the Anaheim Ducks and Darcy Kuemper playing lights out against the Los Angeles Kings in the last two games.

Valeri Nichushkin looks to be returning tonight since Kiefer Sherwood was sent back down to the Colorado Eagles. He had the game-winning goal against LA Thursday night in their 4-1 win. This is the projected squad that will try to bring home a 15th straight home win.

Forwards

Gabriel Landeskog (92) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)

Valeri Nichushkin (13) - Nazem Kadri (91) - Andre Burakovsky (95)

Nicolas Aube-Kubel (16) - Alex Newhook (18) - J.T. Compher (37)

Tyson Jost (17) - Mikhail Maltsev (11) - Logan O’Connor (25)

Defenders

Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)

Jack Johnson (3) - Samuel Girard (49)

Kurtis MacDermid (56) - Erik Johnson (6)

Montreal Canadiens

It’s hard to believe the Canadiens made such an incredible playoff run, knocking off team after team as underdogs to the Stanley Cup Final before getting beat by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Half a year later, the train has blown off the tracks in a fireball of disaster for Montreal.

Coming off of a 4-3 OT loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday, the Canadiens still sit on a single-digit win total for the season. With only eight wins, Montreal needs something to go their way to get anything out of the season.

Star goaltender Carey Price played a big role last season in their playoff success. But, he has been out and was on a good track to recovery before needing to step aside earlier this month. Instead, the first line including new member Tyler Tofolli look to steer the Canadiens into the win column.

Forwards

Tyler Tofolli (73) - Nick Suzuki (14) - Jake Evans (71)

Laurent Dauphin (45) - Christian Dvorak (28) - Mike Hoffman (68)

Jonathan Drouin (92) - Rem Pitlick (32) - Josh Anderson (17)

Michael Pezzetta (55) - Ryan Poehling (25) - Arturri Lehkonen (62)

Defenders

Ben Chariot (8) - David Savard (58)

Kale Clague (43) - Jeff Petry (26)

Alexander Romanov (27) - Chris Wideman (20)

Goaltenders

The Avalanche will run with Darcy Kuemper to build off of his win in LA on Thursday. For the Canadiens, it will be Cayden Primeau to get the nod.