Game Preview: Avalanche vs. Devils

COLORADO AVALANCHE (34-19-5) VS NEW JERSEY DEVILS (39-15-5)
7 PM MT | BALL ARENAWATCH:ALTITUDELISTEN: 92.5FM/950 AM
Riding a six game win streak, the Colorado Avalanche take on the New Jersey Devils in a Wednesday night matchup at Ball Arena. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. MT on Altitude Sports.

LAST TIME OUT

The Avalanche look to stay hot after blanking the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 at Ball Arena on Monday night. Alexandar Georgiev captured his single-season career high third shutout of the season that included 31 saves. Mikko Rantanen tallied his 39th and 40th goal of the season, becoming the fastest Avalanche player in franchise history to reach the 40-goal mark (58 games) since the team moved to Denver. Nathan MacKinnon capped off the scoring for the Avs with an empty netter for his 22nd goal this season.
Winners of four of their last five, New Jersey is fresh off a 7-0 victory over Philadelphia Saturday night. Goaltender Akira Schmid notched his first NHL shutout. Seven different Devils found the back of the net: Jonas Siegenthaler, Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Bratt and Nathan Bastian. Mercer is currently on a six game goal streak.

HISTORY

Colorado owns an 47-39-9 all-time mark against New Jersey, with a 27-15-4 record at home.
Since the franchise moved to Denver, the Avs hold a 21-16-4 record versus the Devils.
Wednesday's matchup is the second and final time that the two teams meet in the regular season. In the first contest, the Devils came away with a 1-0 victory in New Jersey. Jack Hughes scored the games' lone goal on the man-advantage.

SCOUTING THE DEVILS

New Jersey ranks fifth in the league in both goals-for and goals-against per game at 3.51 and 2.63, respectively.
With the NHL trade dealine approaching, the Devils have already left their mark after aquiring forward Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks. Meier had 52 points (31G, 21A) in 57 games for the Sharks this season. He is currently listed day-to-day with an upper-body injury, but joined the team for practice in Denver on Tuesday afternoon.
Jack Hughes paces New Jersey in scoring with 74 points (36G, 38A). Defenseman Dougie Hamilton is in second with 57 points (17G, 40A), tied for fourth in points among NHL blueliners. Hamilton has been lethal from the point, finding the back of the net 17 times which is second in the league for defensemen.
Goaltender Vitek Vanecek holds a 25-6-3 mark between the pipes this season, with a 2.37 goals-against average which ranks seventh in the NHL.

LINEUP UPDATES

Avalanche

Pavel Francouz Lower body
Darren HelmLower body
Erik Johnson Lower body
Gabriel LandeskogLower body
Cale MakarUpper body
\Makar joined the Avalanche at practice on Tuesday afternoon*

Devils

Timo Meier Upper body (day-to-day)
Mackenzie Blackwood Lower body
Jonathan Bernier Lower body

DOING THE MOST

Rantanen has averaged 1.09 points per game (5G, 7A) in 11 contests against New Jersey.
Netminder Alexandar Georgiev holds a 6-2-0 record against the Devils in his career, with a .902 save percentage and 2.72 goals-against average.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Jesper Bratt has registered nine points (3G, 6A) in six games against Colorado, which is first among current New Jersey skaters.

NUMBERS GAME

7-1-2
In the last 10 games, Colorado has averaged 3.4 goals per game while allowing 2.3 goals per game.
40+
Rantanen became the fourth player to reach 40 goals in a single season since the franchise moved to Denver in 1995-96.
5
Georgiev has won a season-high five straight games and is 6-0-1 in his last seven outing and 10-1-1 in his last 11 appearances. His six wins in the month of February are tied for the most in the NHL alongside Ville Husso.
8
MacKinnon extended his point streak to eight games (8G,8A) and scored a goal for the fourth straight con test. He has points in 11 consecutive home games, recording 19 points in those (8G,11A) outings.

QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK

"It was so much fun. Third period, I was just having a lot of fun being back out there. First period, there was a lot of nervous energy being back and all that excitement, it was kind of a blur. Second and third, I started to feel a lot better. You know, you start hearing that song in the third period and guys were grinding out a win, it felt like old times." - Defenseman Jack Johnson on his first game back with the Avs