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| 4:00 PM PT5:00 PM MT6:00 PM CT7:00 PM ET0:00 GMT8:00 5:00 PM MST7:00 PM EST4:00 UAE (+1)19:00 ETNaN:� BRT, January 14, 2023 Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado Attendance: 18,124 |
Avs host Senators in bid to halt home-ice woes
Ottawa Senators at Colorado Avalanche
- There were 23 goals scored in the two games between Ottawa and Colorado last season, with the Avs winning 7-5 in Denver and the Senators posting a 6-5 overtime win in Ottawa. Colorado has scored at least one power-play goal in each of its last nine games against the Senators and 17 of its last 18 games against them.
- Ottawa had a season-high 47 shots on goal in its 5-3 win at Arizona on Thursday. It was the Senators' highest shot total in a road game since April 2, 2013, when they had 47 shots on goal in a 3-2 loss at Boston.
- Thomas Chabot was credited with seven blocked shots against the Coyotes on Thursday, tying the season high for a Senators player set by Erik Brannstrom versus Anaheim on December 12. It was the second highest total of blocked shots in one game for Chabot in his NHL career. He had eight blocks in a game at Nashville on Dec. 11, 2018.
- The Avalanche are 0-3-1 in their last four home games. It's the longest home winless streak for the Avs since their four-game drought in December 2019 (0-4-0). They haven't had a longer winless streak on home ice since a six-game winless run in January/February 2019.
- Evan Rodrigues has tallied nine points in the seven games he's played since December 23 (three goals, six assists), with at least one point in each game. (He missed the Avs' games on Jan. 2 and Jan. 5 with an injury.) This is the first time Rodrigues has scored a point in seven consecutive personal games played in his eight seasons in the NHL.
- Cale Makar has scored five goals on 28 shots on goal in the 10 games he's played on Saturdays this season (17.9%). Makar's shooting percentage on all other days of the week this season is 5.9% (six goals on 101 shots in 30 games).
The Ottawa Senators on Thursday night celebrated D.J. Smith's 100th career win since becoming the team's head coach in 2019.
The Colorado Avalanche have been celebrating nothing of late. The reigning Stanley Cup champions are spiraling after losing to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, their seventh loss in the last eight games.
Ottawa can make it eight losses in nine games when the teams meet Saturday night in Colorado.
The Senators extended Arizona's losing streak to seven games with a 5-3 win at the Coyotes and evened their season record at 19-19-3. Saturday will be the second game of a three-game road trip for Ottawa.
Despite Colorado's struggles, Smith knows it won't be easy to beat a team on its home ice.
"It's hard to win in this league," Smith said after the win over Arizona. "We've been in those games where we've been beat up on the shot clock and you just stay in the game. You can't cheat."
Forward Mark Kastelic will try to come down from the excitement of scoring the game-winning goal against the Coyotes. Kastelic was playing his first NHL game in his hometown with family and friends in attendance.
"It's very surreal," Kastelic said. "I've dreamed about this moment since I was a kid. You kind of have a lot of ups and downs along the way, and I'm finally here. It was really special."
Home ice hasn't been helpful for the Avalanche during their losing streak. They have dropped four in a row at Ball Arena - one in a shootout - and have fallen to 9-8-3 at home. Colorado has weathered multiple injuries this year, but the recent slide is somewhat self-inflicted.
Defensive breakdowns and a struggling power play have been problems. The Avalanche were at the top of the NHL in power-play percentage early in the season, but since Nathan MacKinnon returned from an upper-body injury on Dec. 31 they are 1-for-24 with the man advantage.
"I think we're past moral victories at this point," forward Evan Rodrigues said. "We're past, 'We had a good third (period).' It's not good enough. We're past that. We've got to bear down at practice and figure out a way to get some points here. It's seven out of the last eight. That's just not good enough."
Colorado was scheduled to practice at noon local time Friday but the start was pushed back for a team meeting. After practice, forward Andrew Cogliano steered blame away from the coaches.
"That's on the players," Cogliano said. "I really feel strongly about that as a collective."
Coach Jared Bednar said after practice that Darren Helm will miss time because of a lower-body injury that kept him out of the first 35 games of the season. He left Thursday's game, his fifth since coming back, and didn't return.
Forward Alex Newhook and defenseman Cale Makar sat out practice for maintenance days, Bednar said. Newhook took a puck to the face against Chicago but returned to the lineup.
--Field Level Media
Updated January 13, 2023
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