Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the Colorado Avalanche (10-13-7, 27 points) and Pittsburgh Penguins (20-6-4, 44 points) face-off for the first of two meetings this season live from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The game can be live streamed here. Colorado fans can hear all of the action on AM 950 while Pittsburgh fans can do the same on 105.9 WXDX.
Colorado begins a three-game road trip and has lost four out of its last five contests while Pittsburgh has won two of its last three and plays the middle match of a three-game homestand.
The Penguins enter play atop the Metropolitan Division standings while the Avalanche is in last place in the Central Division and nine points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche are coming off of a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday that saw Erik Johnson net two goals in the loss.
"It was fun," Johnson said of his first career two-goal game via NHL.com afterward. "Any time you can contribute it's even more fun. I'd trade those two goals to get a win tonight. It's something to build off of. We can't get too down on ourselves."
Matt Duchene (10 goals, 10 assists) and Tyson Barrie (three tallies, 17 helpers) are tied atop the scoresheet with 20 points for the Avalanche thus far this season.
The Penguins are the latest team to deal with the NHL's mumps outbreak, but after it was initially believed that goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury would miss tonight's game, he tested negative for the virus Thursday and is expected to start between the pipes.
"I'm pretty happy," Fleury told NHL.com. "I was pretty confident [the results would come back negative]. I didn't feel too bad, so I was just glad that they did it quick to get the result back quickly. I was a little worried about missing the game tonight."
Fleury is 17-4-2 this season with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage while ranking tied for the league lead with five shutouts.
Colorado is likely to counter with Calvin Packard in the crease and he is 4-5-1 with a 2.42 GAA and a .927 save percentage.
Another superstar who has dealt with the mumps but could return tonight is captain Sidney Crosby, who is tied for second in the NHL with 26 assists and ranks second on the team with 35 points. Evgeni Malkin is tied for second in the league with 37 points -- which leads Pittsburgh -- off of 15 markers and 22 helpers.
The Avalanche and Penguins clash for the first time in the 2014-15 campaign when the lights come up tonight at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
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