Colorado @ Montreal preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 12, 2019 ) Colorado 0, Montreal 3

The Montreal Canadiens ended an eight-game losing streak last time out by beating one the NHL’s top teams, and look to parlay that effort when they host the surging Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. The Canadiens were a frustrating 0-5-3 during their slide before registering 40 shots on net to knock off the New York Islanders 4-2 on Tuesday.

“We know the situation we’re in. We can’t afford to relax now,” Montreal right wing Brendan Gallagher told reporters after notching a goal and an assist in the win. “The last few games we’ve really bought into the way that we have to play. It’s taken a little longer than we would have hoped, but we got a result (Tuesday) and hopefully this can be a big thing for us going forward.” The Canadiens have split the last three season series with Colorado, which opened a difficult three-game trip with a 3-1 victory over Toronto on Wednesday as Philipp Grubauer turned aside 38 shots. The Avalanche have won four straight and nine of 12 despite a rash of injuries, but right wing Mikko Rantanen has five points in two games since returning from a 16-game absence due to an ankle injury and forward Matt Calvert had an assist Wednesday in his return from a concussion. Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and an assist in the win at Toronto and has scored seven times to go along with 11 assists during his eight-game point streak.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), TSN2, RDS (Montreal)

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (17-8-2): MacKinnon tops the team with 44 points and rookie defenseman Cale Makar (27) is next while right wing Joonas Donskoi (23) has picked it up of late with three goals and five assists in his past five games. Thursday could see the return of captain Gabe Landeskog, who has missed 16 games with an ankle injury, and fellow forward Andre Burakovsky (upper body) may also be back after sitting out the past three contests. Backup Pavel Francouz (8-5-2, 2.48 goals-against average) is expected to be in net against the Canadiens after Grubauer won his 10th game of the season Wednesday.

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (12-10-6): Defenseman Shea Weber, who owns a club-best plus-9 rating, had a goal to go along with an assist Tuesday and boasts six points in the last six games to push his total to 23 - one behind left wing Tomas Tatar for the team lead. Tatar has been kept off the scoresheet in the last two games while center Phillip Danault owns four points in the past four contests to tie Gallagher with 21. Carey Price ended a six-game losing streak Tuesday with 21 saves and has a new backup in rookie Cayden Primeau, who could get his first start Thursday or perhaps against the New York Rangers on Friday.

OVERTIME

1. Colorado D Ryan Graves owns three goals and six assists along with a team-best plus-17 rating in 26 games this season.

2. The Canadiens recalled Finnish D Otto Leskinen on Wednesday and he could make his NHL debut versus the Avalanche.

3. Avalanche RW Valeri Nichushkin has all three of his goals in the past five games and played at least 17 minutes in each of the last three contests after not doing so in his first 20.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 3, Canadiens 2