Colorado Avalanche’s back-up goaltender Jean-Sebatien Giguere will get his first start of the season tonight, Jan. 31st, against the Calgary Flames. (via Dailyfaceoff.com)
That match-up will be the first of four meetings between the Northwest Division rivals this season.
Both teams are getting off to rough starts to the season, as they are the bottom two teams in the Western Conference. The Avalanche head into the game riding a three game losing streak and are hungry for their first road win of the season. The Avs’ latest loss came last night (Wednesday, Jan 30th) to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Avs had a number of good stretches in Wednesday night's game at Vancouver, but failed to convert on their chances and unfortunately loss 3-0. Colorado managed only 24 shots against the Canucks and went 0-for-4 on the power play.
"We're struggling to score goals right now," said head coach Joe Sacco after Wednesday’s Vancouver game. "They came down on their first chance and it goes in the back of our net. We've talked quite a bit about facing adversity, and I thought we played hard, we stuck with it. The guys really played hard. I can't fault their effort. (via Avalanche.com)
Scoring goals has been a large problem in the recent three game losing streak, but their penalty kill has also been a concern. In the Avs’ four losses this season, they have only been able to successfully kill 58.3 percent of their penalties, which is third worst in the league. (Via NHL.com)
What to watch for:
Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog has missed the Avs’ last two games with head and leg injuries after taking a big hit in San Jose on Saturday. As of now, nobody knows if he will be on tonight’s rosters.
Look for rookie forward Michael Sgarbossa to make an appearance in his second NHL game tonight. In last night’s loss to the Canucks, Sgarbossa played on a line with Milan Hejduk and Cody Mcleod, and made a handful of good plays in both the offensive and defensive zones.
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