Bruins and Avalanche set to meet in Denver

The Bruins will start their 2-game Western Conference road trip with an appointment with the Colorado Avalanche this afternoon (3:00 PM ET, NESN) at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. This is the first and only game of the season between the Brruins and Avalanche.

The Avs currently sit in second place in the Northwest Division, but are 12 points behind the Vancouver Canucks, who running away with the division. Colorado is looking to bounce back from a 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the B's will try to put a 4-2 loss to Buffalo on Thursday behind them and get back to their winning ways. The Bruins have won 5 of their last 7 games and have taken points in 12 of their last 15 contests.

Av's Leading Goal Scorer

Av's Goaltending

Injury Report

Notes:

- This will be the Bruins' first look at Matt Hunwick since shipping the defenseman out to The Rockies.

- The Avalanche have called up forward TJ Galiardi for today's game.

- From the WTF File: 37-year-old Chris Forsberg has been practicing with the Avalanche in hopes of returning to the NHL. Here is a look at a press conference that Forsberg held this morning and look at him on the ice.

- The main reason to keep the Avs from scoring today: Nobody wants see their lame "bang-bang" dance.

- Colorado might have one of the most educated teams in the NHL. The Avs currently have 11 players on their active roster who played college hockey : TJ Galiardi (Dartsmouth), David Jones (Dartmouth), Kevin Porter (Michigan), Paul Statsny (Denver), Ryan Stoa (Minnesota), Daniel Winnik (UNH), Brandon Yip (BU), Matt Hunwick (Michigan), John-Michael Liles (Michigan State), Ryan O'Byrne (Cornell), and Kevin Shattenkirk (BU).

- Due to the early 1:00 PM MT start, the Bruins did not schedule a morning skate today. We will have to wait until game time for the starting goalie and lines. My guess would be that we will see Tim Thomas in goal today.

- The Public Skate open thread gets going at 2:30 PM ET.

- For more on today's game, head over to Mile High Hockey. Mile High Hockey is a great site that is run by a New England native, who I can only assume was traded to Colorado as part of the Ray Bourque deal.