The Colorado Avalanche (28-12-3) make the trip to battle the struggling Montreal Canadiens (17-18-7) on Monday, January 15, at 7:00 PM ET at the Belle Center in Montreal, QC. The Avalanche are moderately favored to win, with a puck line at -1.5 (+110).

The Avalanche have won their last three games and are 4-1 in their previous five overall. Their latest success was a 5-3 showing over the Toronto Maple Leafs, marking their fifth game in a row with three goals or more.

Nathan MacKinnon is currently the face of their offense, as he leads in all of their major categories. At the moment, he leads them with 69 points, 23 goals, and 46 assists.

The Avalanche are averaging 3.67 goals and taking 32.1 shots a game. Their power play performances have been great, as they have scored 41 times and have allowed 25. This has put their power play percentage at 25.0.

They are allowing opposing teams to average 3.07 goals a game and shoot 28.6 times each game. They also have a good penalty kill percentage at 83.0.

The Canadiens have lost their last three consecutive matchups and are 1-4 over their last five. In their most recent defeat, they nearly secured a battle against the Edmonton Oilers that needed overtime to eventually end 2-1.

Mike Matheson has done a good job at supporting the Canadiens with 24 assists on offense, which will be a huge factor in this matchup. Currently, Nick Suzuki leads their offense with 35 points and 12 goals, but he must continue to find ways to be persistent on the scoring end.

The Canadiens are averaging 2.67 goals and are taking 28.4 shots a game. They are doing rather poorly in power play situations, as they have 25 goals scored but have allowed 38. This results in a power play percentage of 17.9.

On defense, the Canadiens are allowing opposing teams to average 3.36 goals and fire off 33.8 shots a game. They also have a slightly weaker penalty kill percentage at 73.2. 

MyBookie has their odds for this NHL showdown, which shows the Colorado Avalanche as 1.5-puck line favorites. This will be the first meeting between these two teams and both offer a different dynamic on winning.

The Avalanche are clearly the better team here other than just looking at their record. The Canadiens have a negative ratio when it comes to scoring and defending, which is why they are barely keeping up with a .500 record. Overall, it appears that the Avalanche are more likely to win by two goals rather than the Canadiens close the gap.