Mile High Sticking
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Colorado Avalanche Must Beat the Washington Capitals

By Nadia Archuleta

DENVER, CO - MARCH 29: Washington Capitals center, Nicklas Backstrom (19) skates into the zone while Colorado Avalanche right wing, Sven Andrighetto (10) chases the play during a regular season NHL game between the Colorado Avalanche and the visiting Washington Capitals on March 29, 2017, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - MARCH 29: Washington Capitals center, Nicklas Backstrom (19) skates into the zone while Colorado Avalanche right wing, Sven Andrighetto (10) chases the play during a regular season NHL game between the Colorado Avalanche and the visiting Washington Capitals on March 29, 2017, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche need to get their winning mojo back against the Washington Capitals before they head out on a road trip.

The recent road trip was not kind to the Colorado Avalanche. The team went 1-2-1 and lost one of their best forwards in a trade. They acquired an exciting defenseman and young forward prospect in return, but the mid-game trade is still the likely catalyst for one of those losses.

In any case, the Avalanche are coming into tonight’s game with a 8-7-1 record, which isn’t bad. However, it does put them two games and three points out of a playoff position. Indeed, they’re #25 in the NHL right now, putting them about dead middle between making the playoffs and winning the Rasmus Dahlen Sweepstakes.

The Washington Capitals, on the other hand, are solidly in the playoff race with their 10-8-1 record.

Historically, the Colorado Avalanche have a 12-15-0-2 record against the Washington Capitals. Washington took both games last year against the Avalanche — they’ve won the last six games against Colorado.

Washington is coming off a 6-3 loss against the Nashville Predators, while the Avalanche dropped a 4-3 game in Sweden to the Ottawa Senators.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: November, 16, 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs feed), NBCSWA (Caps’ feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Players to Watch

More from Mile High Sticking

For the Colorado Avalanche, all eyes are likely to be on the newest new guy to join the team, Vladislav Kamenev. He got the call-up from the San Antonio Rampage on Tuesday and participated in Wednesday’s practice. According to Avs insider Rick Sadowski, Kamenev will be on a line with Sven Andrighetto and Nail Yakupov.

We’re probably going to continue to watch how the other Matt Duchene-trade acquisition, Samuel Girard, plays. The 19-year-old defenseman is slated to start on the top pairing with Erik Johnson. That can be a wild ride that either goes beautifully or horribly for Colorado.

For the Washington Capitals, you always want to watch captain and top scorer Alex Ovechkin. He currently leads the team with 13 goals.

The Avs better not take their eyes off T.J. Oshie. The one-time St. Louis Blues player has always had a bad habit of scoring on Colorado. Luckily he’s in the Eastern Conference now. However, just last year, with the selfsame Washington Capitals, Oshie scored two goals in one game to hand the Avs their first (but far, far from last) loss of the season. Oshie has nine goals on the season so far.

Injury Update

Defenseman Tyson Barrie is out for the Colorado Avalanche. He practiced yesterday for a brief time in a no-contact jersey but mostly just skated on his own.  There’s no word on when or how the injury occurred — he played his full minutes against the Senators, being second only to Johnson for time on the ice.

Tyson Jost is recovered from his lower-body injury. However, coach Jared Bednar wants to see him get more practices in before playing.

Anton Lindholm is still out with a broken jaw.

Next: 3 Ares for Colorado ti Work on after Sweden Games

After tonight’s game, the Colorado Avalanche are heading out for a two-game road trip, their fifth back-to-back of the young season. They play in Nashville on Saturday and in Detroit on Sunday. Colorado will face Washington only once more this season, in Washington on December 12.

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