Tampa Bay Lightning (6-3-0) @ Colorado Avalanche (5-5-0)
7 p.m. MT | Ball Arena | Watch: Altitude TV, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)
A familiar foe is in town as the Avalanche host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena on Wednesday night. This is the first of two meetings between the clubs, as they’ll meet again on November 25 in Tampa.
Latest Result (TBL): NSH 2, TBL 3 (OT)
Latest Result (COL): CHI 5, COL 2
Blackhawks vs. Avalanche 10.28.24 Recap
The Avalanche fell 5-2 to the Blackhawks at Ball Arena on Monday. Chicago’s Philipp Kurashev opened the scoring on the power play at 8:47 of the first period. Colorado answered when Casey Mittelstadt scored his sixth goal of the season at 10:16. The Blackhawks responded with back-to-back goals from Lukas Reichel at 11:04 of the first and Ryan Donato at 16:56 of the opening frame. Nathan MacKinnon put the Avalanche within a goal with his fifth tally of the season on a five-on-three power play at 19:17 of the period. Neither team scored in the second period, but the Blackhawks added empty-net goals by Donato at 19:02 of the third period and Ilya Mikheyev at 19:41 of the period to seal the victory.
Avs Accomplishments
MacKinnon and Cale Makar became the first teammates in franchise history to open the season with simultaneous 10-game point streaks.
Makar’s 10-game season-opening point streak is the longest among defensemen in franchise history and tied for the second-longest in league history, trailing only Bobby Orr, who recorded a 15-game season-opening point streak in the 1973-74 season.
With his assist on Sunday, Mikko Rantanen recorded his 631st-career point, moving into ninth place for most points scored by a Finnish-born player, passing Esa Tikkanen. He’s six points shy of tying Teppo Numminen for sixth place on that list and 80 from tying Mikko Koivu for seventh.
History
In 43 previous regular-season meetings, the Avalanche own a 21-15-7 record against the Lightning, in addition to a 4-2 record against them in the playoffs via their six-game victory in the Stanley Cup Final. Last season, the teams split the two-game season series, with the Avalanche winning at Ball Arena and the Lightning winning at Amalie Arena.
A Thriller in Tampa Bay
On Monday, the Lightning beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 in overtime at home Brayden Point opened the scoring for the Lightning at 9:49 of the first period before Mitchell Chaffee doubled their lead at 19:24 of the opening frame. The Predators answered with second-period tallies from Ryan O’Reilly at 10:19 and Gustav Nyquist at 18:40. Neither team scored in the third period, but Nick Paul won the game for the Lightning at 3:22 of overtime.
Stats to Know
In addition to the six points (2g/4a) he recorded in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, MacKinnon has posted 29 points (11g/18a) in 19 regular-season contests against the Lightning.
Makar posted six points (1g/5a) in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and has registered an additional six points (1g/5a) in six regular-season games against Tampa Bay.
Rantanen has registered nine points (3g/6a) in 13 regular-season games against Tampa Bay in addition to seven points (7a) in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.
Lightning by the Numbers
Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning in goals with eight and points with 14.
Anthony Cirelli (1g/9a) and Brandon Hagel (6g/4a) are tied for second on the team with 10 points.
Hagel and Point are tied for second on the team with six goals each.
Numbers Game
8
Mittelstadt has recorded eight points (2g/6a) over his last four games. This is the first time in his career he’s posted eight points over a four-game span.
12
The Avalanche are tied for first in the league with 12 power-play goals.
29
Colorado leads the NHL with 29 bursts of at least 22 miles per hour.
Quote That Left a Mark
“I think it’s just getting guys to the net. For us, especially as (defensemen), I think it’s more just D1 shooting rather than just passing it D-to-D. If we get guys to the net, we’ve got to reward them and I think tonight, like I said, it was just a lot of the perimeter play, not generating a lot of high-opportunity scoring chances.”
-- Cale Makar on making adjustments
