Avalanche Preview: Colorado Turns Towards Devils After Flyers Upset
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Going up against a team like the Flyers, who previously only won one regulation game this season and proceeded to fall flat on their face, is not how the Avalanche wanted to start the first half of a back-to-back.
The Flyers, before Monday's game, struggled to generate any offense, were one of the worst teams at creating scoring chances, and led the league in shots on goal allowed while unable to do the same to the opponent's goaltender. Though you can catch a break when your opponents are lousy on the puck and help generate your chances by turning the puck over.
Now the Avalanche get the New Jersey Devils, who, in every game this season, have outshot their opponent, presenting a chance for the Avalanche to show their better defensive play in front of their own net.
Despite their aggressiveness on the puck, they are 4-4 on the season with a minus-2 goal differential. Like the Avalanche, at times, defending has not been their strong suit, and neither has their goaltending.
Jake Allen will be Tuesday's starter and has started in five of the eight games, with a 3-2 record, an .876 save percentage, and a 3.18 goals-against average. The Avalanche will either have the chance to get to them earlier, or if neither team wants to play well in front of their own goaltender, we could have a shootout on our hands.
Though the Avalanche will have Scott Wedgewood starting tonight, and despite taking the loss in the shootout against the Dallas Stars, he showed a really strong performance in that game despite ending up with the loss on the stat sheet.
Avalanche Bottom-Six Still Dealing With Injuries
It will be another lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen, though things will change this week as Logan O’Connor is set to return to the lineup on Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s been a tough stretch not having a reliable fourth line, with the depth being tested with O’Connor, Zachary L’Heureux, and Nicolas Roy out.
Puck drop is scheduled for 5:12 p.m. MT.
Projected Avalanche Lines (Subject to Change)
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Nazem Kadri
Jaden Schwartz — Fedor Svechkov — T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly — Gavin Brindley
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Brett Kulak — Sam Malinski
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Noah Juulsen
Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood
Projected Starters (Subject to Change)
- Expected: Scott Wedgewood (COL)
- Unconfirmed: Nico Daws (NJD)
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Stefano Rubino is a sports journalist based outside Toronto, Canada, and a hockey writer covering multiple teams for The Hockey News, as well as the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings for Sports Illustrated. When he is not watching last night's highlights or minor league games, or writing game notes, you can find him listening to music while he works out or playing video games.