Avalanche-Jets Preview
Both the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche have questions surrounding their goaltending for Monday night's matchup.
It's unclear if either team will have its regular starter when the Central Division's two worst teams meet for the first time.
Winnipeg (10-9-2) lost Ondrej Pavelec to a lower-body injury after two periods in Saturday's 3-2 home win over Arizona. Michael Hutchinson entered and stopped all seven shots.
Pavelec won't be available and the Jets have recalled Connor Hellebuyck from the minors Sunday.
Colorado seeks to end a three-game losing streak and has activated Semyon Varlamov, who has missed the last seven games due to a groin injury.
The Avalanche (7-12-1) are finishing a seven-game trip that began with three victories before they allowed 16 goals in losing the next three, falling 7-3 to Washington on Saturday. Reto Berra, who has been filling in for Varlamov, was pulled after one period after yielding four goals for the third straight game.
''Our goalie was not at his best tonight,'' coach Patrick Roy said. ''It was a tough task for him in some ways, because he played a lot of games for us lately."
While Colorado has been conceding plenty of goals, Winnipeg continues to hurt itself with poor discipline.
The Jets have conceded eight power-play goals in 25 chances in the last three games. They have committed the league's most penalties with 122 with an NHL-high 14:31 of average penalty minutes.
Coach Paul Maurice gave a humorous response as to how he is dealing with the penalties.
"Lots of tea really," Maurice said. "I was going to say vodka but that doesn't apply to me. I'm thinking of taking up cigar smoking, I hear that's good for you. I don't think they'd like that on the bench.
"Just kill 'em. We work hard at not complaining and kill penalties and we gotta work harder at staying out of the penalty box."
The Jets have won two straight following a six-game slide. Mark Scheifele has three goals with an assist in those wins after going pointless in six straight.
Chris Thorburn scored the winning goal in the third period Saturday with a short-handed tally, as Winnipeg rallied from a one-goal deficit after one.
"I'm just proud of our team the way we battled," he said. "There were times where things weren't pretty.''
Winnipeg seeks to improve on a 2-5-0 mark against Central foes. The Jets have taken four straight at home against the Avalanche, and went 3-0-2 in the 2014-15 season series.
Bryan Little scored five goals against the Avalanche last season and leads the Jets this season with nine, though only two have come at home. Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay and Matt Duchene combined for 14 points in the season series for Colorado.
Duchene has six goals and six assists in a six-game point streak.
The Avalanche lead the NHL with 17.8 blocks per game. Francois Beauchemin averages just under three per game to rank second.