Gabriel Landeskog and the Colorado Avalanche will try to stay hot when they continue their four-game road trip on Thursday with a visit to the Ottawa Senators.
This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season. Colorado has won seven of the last eight matchups, though Ottawa pulled off a 5-2 win when they last met at Canadian Tire Centre in January.
Colorado has rebounded from consecutive losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators with back-to-back victories. They shut out the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 before defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 in the opener of their current road trip. The Avalanche have earned points in six of their last seven games (5-1-1).
Landeskog scored twice against Toronto on Tuesday, including the go-ahead goal at 5:02 of the third period. It was the first of three unanswered goals by Colorado.
Devon Toews had a goal and an assist, Cale Makar had two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves in the win.
“We always talk about responding,” Landeskog said. “Whether you score, you’ve got to follow it up. Whether they score, you’ve got to follow it up. Those shifts are big, no doubt, and we were able to get rewarded for one there. Even if you don’t get rewarded, you want to leave some momentum in the offensive zone. That one worked out, and we ended up scoring.”
Ottawa has also shown signs of improvement. The Senators kicked off November with a disappointing loss to the Anaheim Ducks, but then rebounded with wins against the Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth. Ottawa appeared poised for a third straight victory Tuesday before conceding a third-period equalizer and falling 3-2 in overtime to the Washington Capitals.
The Senators took a 2-1 lead in the second period on goals from Ridly Greig and Hayden Hodgson, with Hodgson scoring his first goal since March 24, 2022. Ottawa outshot Washington 18-2 in the frame, and it kept the visitors without a shot for 21:05 overall. Pierre-Luc Dubois tied the game for Washington in the third period, and Cole Hutson scored the winner on a wrist shot through traffic at 1:14 of overtime after taking a pass from Alex Ovechkin.
“I thought we played awesome (Tuesday),” Senators head coach Travis Green said. “One of our better games of the year.
“I thought we deserved to get two points, not just one.”
Senators captain Thomas Chabot had two assists and Samuel Ersson made 14 saves in the loss.
“Honestly, we knew it was going to be a tight game, playing a very talented and deep team on the other side,” Chabot said. “They tied it late and, obviously, to lose it in OT (stinks), but I think there’s still a little bit of positive out of it, and we’ve got to obviously focus on the next game.”
The Senators will be without forward Nick Cousins, who is expected to miss seven to 10 days after suffering an upper-body injury on a hit by Washington defenseman Jakob Chychrun late in Tuesday’s game.