MONTREAL, QC — The Colorado Avalanche wrap up a three-game road trip visiting Eastern Canadian teams. They’ll face the red-hot Canadiens of Montreal on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Earlier in the season when these two played at Ball Arena in Denver, it went down to the wire and beyond. On January 4, both teams got a point for going beyond regulation. But the Habs would get the extra point in the shootout. It was an off-night for the Avs and a great game for Jakub Dobes in his second career game.

Colorado Avalanche (42-25-3)

Colorado rebounded after another off-night against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a big way the following night. Four first-period goals propelled the Avs to a big 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Scott Wedgewood has been dominant in the crease his last few starts. The trend continued on Thursday, and he came up big on the second leg of the back-to-back and when Mackenzie Blackwood was out sick. He got plenty of help with Brock Nelson’s first two goals as an Av.

Blackwood is expected to get the start on Saturday night. In front of him, the team will be without two blue-line stalwarts Samuel Girard and Josh Manson. Both are out with injuries, so expect Erik Johnson and Keaton Middleton to slot back in and help keep up this hot pace.

Oh by the way, it’ll help motivate the team when Gabriel Landeskog keeps skating with them.

Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen (62) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Martin Necas (88)
Jonathan Drouin (27) – Brock Nelson (11) – Valeri Nichushkin (13)
Joel Kiviranta (94) – Charlie Coyle (10) – Ross Colton (20)
Miles Wood (28) – Jack Drury (18) – Jimmy Vesey (26)

Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)
Ryan Lindgren (55) – Sam Malinski (70)
Keaton Middleton (67) – Erik Johnson (6)

Mackenzie Blackwood (39)
Scott Wedgewood (41)

Montreal Canadiens (33-27-8)

Something just feels right when the Montreal Canadiens are playing meaningful hockey in the latter stages of the season. The Habs are in the midst of a five-game point streak but did fall to the New York Islanders in a shootout on Thursday night in Long Island.

After being out of the running the last few seasons since their Stanley Cup run in 2021, Montreal is right in the thick of it. While they sit fifth in the Atlantic Division, they do hold the second wild card spot with 74 points. They sit two points ahead of the aforementioned Islanders and New York Rangers.

Captain Nick Suzuki leads the way with 71 points in 68 games. Lane Hutson has been on an absolute tear on the blue line with 53 points in 68 games. A win tonight with help up and down the lineup would only help their playoff case more and gap the teams chasing them.

Projected Lines

Cole Caufield (13) – Nick Suzuki (14) – Juraj Slafkovsky (20)
Joshua Roy (89) – Alex Newhook (15) – Patrik Laine (92)
Josh Anderson (17) – Christian Dvorak (20) – Brenden Gallagher (11)
Emil Heineman (51) – Jake Evans (71) – Joel Armia (40)

Mike Matheson (8) – Alexandre Carrier (45)
Jayden Struble (47) – Lane Hutson (48)
Arber Xhekaj (72) – David Savard (58)

Sam Montembault (35)
Jakub Dobes (75)

Game Details

Time: 5:00 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, KTVD Ch. 20, Altitude+, ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM