Colorado is taking advantage of its four-game road trip for the team to get acquainted with four new players. The Colorado Avalanche face off against the Calgary Flames for the only time this season at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday night. After adding four new players and losing Logan O'Connor due to hip surgery, the Avs will need to find some chemistry in their new landscape. "Same as start of the year you know, getting your group together out on the road. We got to establish ourselves as a successful road team here before the end of the season," head coach Jared Bednar said. "So it's a big opportunity to play in tough competition too — Calgary fighting for a spot, Edmonton, Van (Vancouver) you know, like these are going to be tough games. So see how we react to that, but hopefully we can start establishing our game on the road a little bit more like we have at home." Colorado's new second-line center, Casey Mittelstadt, is still getting acquainted with his teammates and looking forward to some time to get to know each other away from home. "I mean I'm pretty quiet anyway, so I feel like it's been good and the guys have been extremely welcoming and obviously still early so there's gonna be a lot of time to get to know everyone," the 25-year-old forward said. "And I think it's nice to go on the road now and, you know, get guys away from home and get to know guys and yeah, it's been awesome." O'Connor missed several games this season due to his injury and it came to a head after the All-Star Break, according to Bednar. With the potential loss of the bottom six forward, the team made moves before the trade deadline to add depth in this worst case scenario. "Well, we had an idea that it wasn't going well for him ... I mean, adding depth was important regardless, especially when you know, potentially getting bad news on a guy that played for us all year long," Bednar said. While O'Connor's energy and play cannot be replaced, Bednar said he will adjust his lines to find the right fit in his absence — which may be Zach Parise. The Avs beat the Flames twice at Ball Arena: Nov. 25, 3-1 and Dec. 11, 6-5. The team is on a back-to-back and face the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night. RECENT COLORADO AVALANCHE ARTICLES 'We think an awful lot of him': Newly acquired forward's impact on Avalanche [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/players/newly-acquired-forwards-impact-on-avalanche] Avalanche prospect Nikolai Kovalenko could soon join NHL [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/avalanche-prospect-nikolai-kovalenko-could-soon-join-nhl] Nichushkin, 4 new additions in lineup against Minnesota Wild [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/game-day/nichushkin-4-new-additions-in-lineup-against-minnesota-wild]
