Eurolanche

Colorado seeks rare road win

Avalanche team scope

With forwards Jarome Iginla and Andreas Martinsen traded Wednesday by the Colorado Avalanche, J.T. Compher was called up from San Antonio of the American Hockey League and is expected to make his NHL debut. He is third in scoring on the Rampage with 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in his first professional season after three years at the University of Michigan. Compher, 21, was the Buffalo Sabres' second-round selection (No. 35) in the 2013 NHL Draft and was acquired as part of the trade that sent center Ryan O'Reilly to the Sabres on June 26, 2015. "We're kind of anxious to look at him," coach Jared Bednar said. "He's had a good year in the American Hockey League. He had a little bit of injury trouble early that put him out, but he's been playing really well since he's been back, playing important minutes down there and carrying the load for the team offensively. We're kind of excited to see him." The Avalanche, last in the League with 37 points, are 1-11-1 in their past 13 road games. Goaltender Calvin Pickard will start.
 
Senators team scope

Forwards Alexandre Burrows and Viktor Stalberg each will make his debut with the Ottawa Senators. Burrows was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks for forward Jonathan Dahlen on Monday, and Stalberg came in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft on Tuesday. Coach Guy Boucher said they will help with more screens in front of the opposition net, something that was absent in a 5-1 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday with forward Bobby Ryan out with a broken finger. "They are two guys who go to the net," Boucher said. "They screen and they battle there. That adds to what we're trying to do. We need more of that. When we play great, we see our guys in front of the goaltender, fronting shots, screening, battling. When we don't do that, we don't win games. We needed to add that to our lineup." The Senators have alternated wins and losses for the past six games and are 8-7-2 in their past 17. They are second in the Atlantic Division, six points behind the Montreal Canadiens with three games in hand. Goaltender Craig Anderson will start.
 
Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Blake Comeau

Mikko Rantanen -- Matt Duchene -- Matt Nieto

Joe Colborne -- John Mitchell -- Mikhail Grigorenko

J.T. Compher -- Carl Soderberg -- Rene Bourque

Patrick Wiercioch -- Erik Johnson

Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie

Francois Beauchemin -- Mark Barberio

Calvin Pickard

Jeremy Smith

Scratched: Sven Andrighetto, Cody Goloubef

Injured: Semyon Varlamov (groin), Nikita Zadorov (ankle)
 
Senators projected lineup

Alexandre Burrows -- Derick Brassard -- Mark Stone

Mike Hoffman -- Kyle Turris -- Zack Smith

Ryan Dzingel -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Tom Pyatt

Viktor Stalberg -- Chris Kelly -- Tommy Wingels

Marc Methot -- Erik Karlsson

Dion Phaneuf -- Cody Ceci

Mark Borowiecki -- Chris Wideman

Craig Anderson

Mike Condon

Scratched : Fredrik Claesson, Jyrki Jokipakka, Chris DiDomenico

Injured : Chris Neil (broken finger), Bobby Ryan (broken finger), Clarke MacArthur (concussion)
 
Status report

Boucher wanted to play Smith with Brassard and Stone, but Turris has an injured finger and can't take faceoffs, so Smith will handle those duties on that line.
 
Who's hot

Karlsson has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in his past nine games. ... Stone has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past 12 games. Turris has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past seven games.

-- by Chris Stevenson for NHL.com --