Defenseman Zach Redmond is looking forward to Sunday's game in Winnipeg, where he'll play against his former Jets teammates after making a successful Avalanche debut Friday.

Redmond made the most of his opportunity in the Avalanche's 7-3 win against Vancouver. He logged 12:17 in ice time, had an assist on Gabriel Landeskog's third-period goal, took two shots and had three official hits. He's a smooth skater and delivered the puck to the forwards with crisp passes.

"It was a learning experience the first little bit there," he said Saturday after the team practiced for an hour before heading to the airport. "I just had to stay patient learning the systems and stuff. Playing last night was great and getting a win like that was even better. It was just great to play again."

Tyson Barrie, who had three assists, was impressed.

"I thought Zach did an outstanding job," he said. "Every time he got the puck in the D-zone he was moving his feet and getting out of the zone really quick and making good outlet passes. The quicker we can get our forwards the puck and support them in the rush, the better it's going to go."

Redmond, who is 6-feet-2 and 205 pounds, signed with the Avalanche as a free agent in July after spending three years in the Jets organization. He had two goals and five assists in 18 NHL games over the past two seasons with a goal and two assists in 10 games last year.

"I finished the year with Winnipeg and we had a long playoff run in St. John's, so it was mid-June before I stopped playing," said Redmond, who had six goals and 19 assists in 40 games with the AHL team and two goals and 12 assists in 21 playoff games when the IceCaps advanced to the Calder Cup finals.

"I had some nerves last night, I was excited. Hopefully I can pick up (Sunday) where I left off. It's always great playing against the team you were on, going into the rink that you were in. It's cool. It's going to be good to get up there again. It seems like yesterday that I was there, but it will definitely be special coming back."

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Redmond was one of five defensemen to register a point against the Canucks. Led by Barrie and Erik Johnson (one goal, one assist), the defense corps accounted for a goal and seven assists. The group combined for one goal and five assists in the first seven games.

"The whole 'D' did a great job last night of moving the puck, jumping in and getting up there," said Barrie, who matched his career high for points in a game. He now has six points (one goal, five assists) in eight games. "Sometimes you're getting chances and nothing is going in, so it was nice to have things go our way. It was definitely a good game for the whole team.

"I hope to be able to look back at this game at the end of the year and say it was the game that turned things around. We know in the West there's no nights off, so we're going to be ready to go in Winnipeg. Hopefully this is the start of something good."

The Avalanche went 3-0-2 against the Jets last season, but all five games were decided by one goal. Three were decided in overtime and one in a shootout.

"Every game's tight with these guys, but it's a great building to play in and we're excited to go in there," Barrie said. "I think we're excited about the game we played last night. We realize that's how we need to play."

The Avalanche will go with the same lineup they used Friday, with Semyon Varlamov back in goal. He has a 7-3-1 record in 12 career decisions against the Jets with a 2.50 goals-against average.

Center Jesse Winchester (concussion) practiced again Saturday while wearing a red non-contact jersey, but he didn't make the one-game trip.



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