Avalanche Set to Begin First-Round Series Against Coyotes

The Colorado Avalanche officially begins the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday, taking on the Arizona Coyotes in the first round in Edmonton, Alberta at 3:30 p.m. MT. As the higher seed in the matchup, the Avs are denoted as the home team for the game.

Colorado earned the second seed in the Western Conference during the round robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers last week, defeating the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Aug. 2 and the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Aug. 5. The Avs' only loss came in the third and final game of the round robin on Saturday, when the club fell 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime.

Nazem Kadri (one goal, three assists) and Mikko Rantanen (four assists) lead the squad in points heading into Round 1 with four points each, while Joonas Donskoi (two goals, one assist) owns the team lead in goals. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer earned a .914 save percentage and 2.45 goals-against average in his two starts, while Pavel Francouz, who started in his first playoff game against the Stars, recorded the first postseason shutout of his career.

Arizona defeated the Nashville Predators during the Qualifying Round, winning the best-of-five series in four games. The Coyotes won the first game 4-3 on Aug. 2 before falling 4-2 to the Predators on Aug. 4. Arizona won the next two matchups 4-1 on Aug. 5 and 4-3 in overtime on Friday to claim the series victory and advance to the first round.

The Avs and Coyotes split their two-game season series during the 2019-20 campaign, with the Avalanche taking a 3-2 victory in overtime on Oct. 12 and Arizona claiming a 3-0 win on Nov. 2. The teams were scheduled to play a third and final regular season matchup on March 31, but the game was eventually cancelled when the NHL paused its season on March 12 due to coronavirus concerns.

Avalanche vs. Arizona Coyotes

Rogers Place | Edmonton, Alberta

| Game Time: | 3:30 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | Altitude, NBCSN, Sportsnet 360, TVA Sports, Fox Sports-Arizona (ARI) | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, FM 92.5 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NHL.tv, AltitudeNow.com, Official app (blackouts apply to all) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | Virtual GameDay, Digital Arena,@Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-ARIZONA CONNECTIONS

The Avalanche acquired defenseman Kevin Connauton and a 2020 third-round pick from Arizona in a deal last summer that sent Carl Soderberg to the Coyotes … Soderberg played four seasons in Colorado (2015-2019)… Arizona's Brad Richardson was drafted No. 163 overall in the fifth-round by Colorado in 2003 and played his first three NHL seasons with the Avalanche (2005-2008)… Arizona head coach Rick Tocchet was an assistant coach for Colorado from 2002-2004… Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole and Arizona forward Phil Kessel were teammates on the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2015-2018 and won two Stanley Cups with the Pens (2016 and 2017)… Colorado's Matt Nieto and Arizona's Jason Demers were teammates on the San Jose Sharks from 2013-2015.

HISTORY

Colorado owns a 64-50-18 franchise mark against the Coyotes dating back to when Arizona was the Winnipeg Jets and the Avalanche was the Quebec Nordiques. Since the Avs moved to Denver in 1995, the squad has earned a 47-30-10 record against the franchise. Andre Burakovsky (one goal, one assist) and Cale Makar (two assists) led Colorado in points against the Coyotes this season.

This series marks the first time that the Avs and Coyotes have met in the playoffs since 2000, when Colorado defeated the then-Phoenix Coyotes 4-1 in a best-of-seven series to win the conference quarterfinals. The Avalanche outscored the Yotes 17-10 during the five games played in the series and only fell once in Phoenix in Game 4.

ROSTER REPORT

Head coach Jared Bednar declined to make any lineup announcements following practice on Tuesday, but he did say that everyone is expected to be available for Game 1.

SCOUTING THE COYOTES

Arizona finished the regular season with a 33-29-8 record and 74 points. The club entered the Stanley Cup Qualifer round ranked 11th out of the 12 teams in the Western Conference. During its series against the Nashville Predators, Arizona's power-play unit went 2-for-12, and its penalty kill went 10-for-14. The Coyotes' penalty killers are building off of a very successful regular season where they ranked fifth overall in the league at 82.7 percent.

Individually, Arizona was led by Nick Schmaltz, who tallied 45 points (11 goals, 34 assists) during the regular season. Schmaltz was followed by Clayton Keller with 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists) and Conor Garland, who earned 39 points (22 goals, 17 assists). The Coyotes were also strong between the pipes with Darcy Kuemper, who recorded a 16-11-2 record season during the regular campaign and made 838 saves, and Antti Raanta, who went 15-14-3 with a .921 save percentage and 2.63 goals-against average.

So far during the 2020 postseason, Keller (two goals, two assists), Phil Kessel (one goal, three assists), Taylor Hall (one goal, three assists) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (one goal, three assists) are all tied for the team lead in points with four each.

(AVS) PLAYER TO WATCH: J.T. Compher

J.T. Compher has tallied two points (one goal, one assist) in his three playoff games this season to tie for the sixth-most on the Avalanche. Both points came in Colorado's 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, where Compher also finished with three shots on goal, one blocked shot and a plus-2 rating. Additionally, the forward is a key member of Colorado's penalty kill unit. Compher ranked first among forwards on the Avs during the round robin with 7:40 minutes of ice time while killing penalties. Compher is continuing his strong penalty kill showing from the regular season, where he assisted three of the Avs' eight shorthanded goals.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Darcy Kuemper

Darcy Kuemper started all four of Arizona's games against the Nashville Predators during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers and made 152 saves, the most in the league during the round. The goaltender earned a 3-1-0 mark in the series, tying his career-best, single-season playoff wins from the 2013-14 season with the Minnesota Wild. Kuemper allowed only 11 goals during the play-in series, earning him a .933 save percentage and 2.77 goals-against average. In addition, Kuemper is one start away from tying his career-high of five playoff games started in a single postseason.

This playoff bid is the netminder's first with Coyotes and fourth overall in his career. Since being acquired by Arizona during the 2017-18 season, Kuemper has put up a 45-37-12 record, .923 save percentage and 2.39 goals-against average.

NUMBERS GAME

1x5

After three round robin games, five Avalanche players are averaging one or more points per outing. Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri have both tallied 1.33 points per game, while Nathan MacKinnon, Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky have each averaged one point per contest.

7

Colorado was one of seven teams to record a shutout during either the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The Avs shut out the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Aug. 5.

9:11

The Avs lead the league so far in the playoffs by averaging 9:11 of power-play time per game. Colorado scored four power-play goals on 16 opportunities in its first three games.

22

The Avalanche recorded 22 penalty minutes during the round robin, the fewest of any team that participated in the NHL's Return to Play.

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche and Coyotes have met once before in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as Colorado defeated the then-Phoenix Coyotes in five games during the 2000 western conference quarterfinal… Colorado scored on 25 percent of its power-play opportunities in its round-robin play, tied for the seventh best in the league during the Qualifying Round… The Avs were shorthanded only 10 times during the round robin, tied for the third-lowest among Return to Play teams… Cale Makar led Colorado in time on ice during the round robin, averaging 22:30 of ice time per game… Nathan MacKinnon recorded 15 shots on net during the round robin to lead the Avalanche… Makar, Mikko Rantanen, J.T. Compher and Ryan Graves are all tied for the team-lead with a plus-3 rating after three games.