Colorado @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 20, 2020 ) Detroit 3, Colorado 6

The Colorado Avalanche aim to record a season-high seventh consecutive victory on Monday when they conclude a three-game trek against the Detroit Red Wings. The road has been kind to the Avalanche, who have 22 such wins this season and a franchise-high eight straight away from home heading into a tilt with the NHL's worst team.

"It's good for all of us, we're playing really well lately," said Pavel Francouz, who turned aside 30 shots in Colorado's 3-2 victory over Nashville on Saturday. "We keep getting points, which is huge in the standings. We keep chasing St. Louis and I really hope we'll be playing like this in the next game again." The 29-year-old Francouz has won a career-best six consecutive starts and owns an 8-1-1 record in his last 10 appearances dating back to a 22-save performance in Colorado's 6-3 win over Detroit on Jan. 20. Dylan Larkin collected a goal and two assists in that encounter and had one of each on Saturday for the reeling Red Wings, who dropped a 4-3 shootout decision in Ottawa for their 19th loss in 22 games (3-17-2). "We started well, 2-0. We just can't find ways to take our foot off the gas like we did tonight," Larkin told reporters. "It starts with us staying out of the box; we didn't do that tonight, myself included."

TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: NHL Network, Altitude, FS Detroit

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (39-18-7): Gabriel Landeskog extended his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists) by netting his 18th goal of the season to open the scoring in the second period Saturday. Defenseman Samuel Girard had an assist on that goal to boost his point streak to three games (one goal, three assists) while Tyson Jost set up Martin Kaut's second tally of the season just 2:15 later to give him at least a point in three consecutive contests (two goals, two assists). Nathan MacKinnon joined Nazem Kadri in netting a pair of goals in the previous encounter with Detroit, although the former has just one tally in his last 10 games overall.

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (15-47-5): Larkin, who has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past six games, finds himself tied for the team lead in goals with Tyler Bertuzzi after the latter set up his 18th of the season at 6:59 of the second period Saturday. Larkin also picked up an assist in the third period on a power-play goal by Sam Gagner, who scored for the first time in two games since being acquired from Edmonton at the NHL trade deadline. "Power play, especially, I thought we were a little more cohesive as a unit," the 30-year-old Gagner told reporters. "I think it's a process. You just got to keep building with the new team. ... You just keep pushing forward and keep trying to help the group and hopefully we can find a way to get some wins here."

OVERTIME

1. Kadri, who also had an assist in the previous meeting with Detroit, is out indefinitely with ankle injury.

2. Bertuzzi is mired in a 12-game goal drought and has just one since he scored and set up a goal in the previous encounter with the Avalanche.

3. Colorado has killed off all 18 short-handed situations over its last eight games.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 5, Red Wings 1