Colorado Avalanche (46-26-4) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (34-30-9)
5:30 p.m. MT | Nationwide Arena | Watch: Altitude, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)
After kicking off their road trip in Chicago, the Avs travel east to face the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the second and final meeting between the teams this season.
Latest Result (COL): COL 3, CHI 2 (SO)
Latest Result (CBJ): NSH 4, CBJ 8
Comeback in Chicago
The Avalanche rallied from down 2-0 to defeat the Blackhawks 3-2 in a shootout at United Center on Wednesday. In net for the Avs, Scott Wedgewood stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced in addition to two huge saves in the shootout. Chicago’s Ilya Mikheyev opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 14:39 of the first period and Connor Murphy doubled the Blackhawks’ lead at 8:17 of the middle frame. At 9:17 of the third, Makar scored his 29th goal of the season via a right-circle wrist shot set up by Nathan MacKinnon. That tally broke the single-season franchise record for goals by a defenseman, previously set by Makar in 2021-22. With time winding down and the Avs’ net empty, Necas tied the game with his 27th goal of the season via a redirect on Makar’s right-point shot at 19:49 of the third period. In the shootout, MacKinnon scored in the second round before Artturi Lehkonen sealed the Avs’ victory in the third round.
Avs on the Leaderboards
Nate the Great
MacKinnon leads the NHL in assists (81) and is tied for the league league in points (111).
All Hail Cale
Makar leads NHL defensemen in goals (29), assists (58) and points (87). Among all NHL skaters, he’s seventh in assists and ninth in points.
A Marty Party
Martin Necas is tied for 10th in the NHL in assists (54).
History
In 68 regular-season games against the Blue Jackets, the Avalanche are 43-19-6. In their first meeting this season, the Blue Jackets won 6-4 on October 12th in Denver.
Filling the Net Against Nashville
The Blue Jackets defeated the Nashville Predators 8-4 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. Columbus jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead after goals from Kirill Marchenko at 1:15, Adam Fantilli at 16:34 and a power-play tally from Sean Monahan at 18:10. Filip Forsberg put Nashville on the board at 18:34 of the first period. Marchenko scored his second of the game to give Columbus a 4-1 lead at 4:12 of the middle frame. Nashville pulled within one after second-period goals from Michael Bunting at 5:43 and Justin Barron at 6:26. At 12:00 of the middle frame, Fantilli scored his second of the game to give the Blue Jackets a 5-3 lead. Monahan scored his second power-play goal of the game at 16:47 of the middle frame before Dante Fabbro gave Columbus a 7-3 lead at 19:41. In the third period, Marchenko completed his hat trick at 5:23 and Nashville’s Jordan Osterle scored at 9:02.
Contributors Against Columbus
MacKinnon has posted 23 points (6g/17a) in 20 games against the Blue Jackets.
In seven games against Columbus, Makar has recorded 12 points (4g/8a).
Necas has registered 20 points (4g/16a) in 25 games against the Blue Jackets.
Finding the Net at Nationwide
Zach Werenski leads the Blue Jackets in points (74) and assists (54) while being tied for fourth in goals (20).
Marchenko leads the Blue Jackets in goals (31) while being second in points (70) and assists (39).
Kent Johnson is third on the Blue Jackets in points (49) and goals (22) while being fourth in assists (27).
A Numbers Game
6
The Avs are 6-3-1 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
2016-2017
Makar became the first defenseman to post 29 goals in a season since Brent Burns did so in 2016-17.
64.9%
The Avs won a season-high 64.9% of their faceoffs on Wednesday.
Quote That Left a Mark
“Today was a tough one but we stuck with it.”
-- Martin Necas on Wednesday’s game against Chicago
