The Colorado Avalanche hope to finish strong by winning the last game of their three-game homestand by recording their ninth straight victory.
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The Colorado Avalanche are hosting the New York Rangers for the final game of their three-game homestand. So far, the Avalanche are 2-0 on this homestand.
The Avalanche are coming off a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks that was more thrilling than it should have been — they were up 4-0 midway through the second before allowing the Sharks to score three straight. The Rangers are coming off a two-game homestand that saw them beat both the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres.
Colorado has faced the Rangers one other time this season. In fact, they started their season against the Rangers in New York, a 4-2 victory that saw now-traded Matt Duchene score the first goal of the Avs’ 2017-18 season. All-time the Avalanche are 19-13-1(ties) against New York.
The Colorado Avalanche have not lost yet in 2018. They have now won eight straight, which is their longest winning streak in 12 years.
How to Enjoy the Game
Game time: January 20, 1:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs feed), MSG (Rangers feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)
Injury Update
The Colorado Avalanche have four regular players who are out with injuries. All of them have been skating. Goalie Semyon Varlamov has only been working on skating, though he took a couple shots yesterday in practice under the watchful eye of goalie coach Jussi Parkkilla. He’s considered “on schedule” for returning after the All Star Break.
Tyson Barrie (hand), Tyson Jost (leg), and Sven Andrighetto (leg) all participated in full practice yesterday while wearing no-contact red jerseys. However, all three looked good.
Andrighetto:
Barrie (and Andrighetto):
Jost:
Jost and Andrighetto are considered day-to-day, while Barrie probably still has at least a week.
Alexander Kerfoot Remembers New York Fondly
Harvard-educated rookie Alexander Kerfoot is the Avalanche’s best rookie. Though he doesn’t get a ton of ice time, he’s got the best numbers for all Avs first-year players. Indeed, he’s fourth on the team for scoring and fifth in the entire NHL for rookies.
Kerfoot made the Colorado Avalanche straight out of camp. So, that means his first NHL game was against the New York Rangers. Kerfoot saw just 12:06 of ice time, but he managed an assist on Tyson Barrie’s game-winning goal:
Not bad for a rookie just 38 minutes into his NHL career.
During a post practice presser, Kerfoot talked about that first game:
"“I was really nervous for sure. My goal coming into camp was just to make the team, and I think that I really didn’t know what to expect. And getting into the lineup for the first game, at MSG in New York — that was pretty special and something that I’ll remember for a long time.”"
As of right now, Alexander Kerfoot has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists).
Kerfoot also had some analysis of the importance of finishing strong on the homestand:
"“One of the things we want to focus on is we want to stay more disciplined… We gave [the San Jose Sharks] seven chances. Obviously [goalie Jonathan Bernier] stood on his head, and our PKers did a good job. But, coming down to the wire, and when we’re in the playoffs, we can’t be taking that many penalties.”"
That’s right, Avs Nation, the Professor said “when we’re in the playoffs.” This is a different team from last year, one that truly feels it can make the playoffs.
Kerfoot thinks the team can take the momentum from a good homestand into the road games they have coming up:
"“We’re playing good hockey, and we want to keep that up. I think that we are playing with winning habits and we don’t want to get away from that. Playing on the road is no different than playing at home, and we want to play the same way. These are huge games for us.”"
The Colorado Avalanche have been stellar at home — 17-7-1. On the road, not so much — 8-9-2. Colorado is facing a long stretch of road games ahead of them — over the next four weeks they have 13 road games and just three home games. That makes the Rangers game a big one because they don’t need to start that stretch on a slide.
Next: Avs Youth Still Learning the Ropes
After the game against the Rangers — the last of the season for them — the Colorado Avalanche head up to Canada for back-to-back games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens before dropping down to St. Louis just before the All Star Break.