The Colorado Avalanche are finally back to their winning ways. After going four games without a victory, they have now reeled off four straight victories against playoff caliber opponents, with three of those games taking place on the road.
While the victories keep coming, so do the injuries. Forward Paul Stastny will not play tonight, as he is still recovering from being slammed headfirst into the boards on Wednesday night by Chicago's Bryan Bickell. This is expected to be a very minor injury. Milan Hejduk will also miss the game with a lingering groin injury.
Reinforcements are on the way, however, as T.J. Galiardi returns from his broken wrist. This injury has kept Galiardi out of action for the past six weeks, but he appears to be game ready and will take Stastny's place in the lineup as first line center.
Colorado's opponent tonight, the Ottawa Senators, find themselves a sub-.500 team with a lacking offense and question marks in goal. Starting goalie Brian Elliot has been average, but not spectacular, for an Ottawa team that doesn't have the offensive firepower to recover from mistakes. The Senators rank 25th in the NHL in goals scored, and only Daniel Alfredsson has more than 20 points on the season. Compare that to Colorado, who claims five separate players with 25 points or more.
Ottawa has scored exactly three goals in five of their last six games. Colorado is averaging over five goals scored their past six games, and lead the league in goals scored per game average.
The puck drops at 7pm MST.