Colorado @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 19, 2019 ) Carolina 3, Colorado 1

The Colorado Avalanche have embraced their role as road warriors throughout the season while the Carolina Hurricanes have found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard in each of their last three home games (0-2-1). The Avalanche bid for their seventh straight win away from Denver on Friday when they open a three-game trek against the Hurricanes.

Colorado answered its last home loss on Feb. 1 by surrendering just 19 goals during a sizzling 9-2-1 stretch. NHL First Star of the Week Pavel Francouz has played a significant role in the team's ascent, yielding just four tallies during a career-best four-start winning streak to keep the Avalanche within striking distance in the Central Division. Carolina, which has been besieged by injury at the goaltender position, is keeping afloat in the ultra-competitive Metropolitan due in large part to Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. Aho extended his career-best point streak to 13 games (12 goals, seven assists) by netting his team-leading 36th tally in Tuesday's 4-1 setback to Dallas, while Svechnikov's assist allowed him to dent the scoresheet for the 11th consecutive contest (five goals, eight assists).

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: Altitude, FS Carolinas

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (37-18-7): Nathan MacKinnon recorded his 10th assist of February and the 299th of his career on Wednesday after setting up captain Gabriel Landeskog's power-play goal in a 3-2 win over Buffalo. The pair also teamed up with the man advantage in Colorado's previous encounter versus Carolina, but the Avalanche were held at bay from there and dropped a 3-1 decision on Dec 19. Landeskog has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last five games overall.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (35-23-4): Alex Nedeljkovic stumbled out of the blocks in his first NHL game in over 13 months on Tuesday, yielding a goal to Tyler Seguin just 51 seconds into the contest and two other tallies later in the first period. "It's tough when you're chasing the game the rest of the night, especially when you give one up that early, but you've got to bounce back. That's what good teams do," the 24-year-old Nedeljkovic said. Coach Rod Brind'Amour did not have a medical update on goaltenders Petr Mrazek (concussion protocol) or James Reimer (lower body) following Thursday's practice.

OVERTIME

1. Carolina D Jaccob Slavin, who scored a goal in the first encounter against Colorado, has recorded 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in his last 12 games overall.

2. Avalanche LW J.T. Compher has recorded two game-winning goals in his last three contests.

3. Aho has scored 11 goals in February, marking the most he's recorded in one month during his NHL career.

PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3, Avalanche 2