COLORADO AVALANCHE (7-2-0) AT VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (10-0-1)
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The Colorado Avalanche face off with the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night. The matchup represents two of the top four teams in the Western Conference standings going head-to-head. Saturday will be the eighth home game of the season for the Golden Knights, including their fourth in their last five games.
Latest Results:
November 1, 2023 COL: 4 STL: 1
November 2, 2023 VGK: 5 WPG: 2
HISTORY
Colorado has a 13-8-1 all-time record against the Knights, with a 7-5-0 mark on the road. In last season’s meetings, the Avalanche went 2-1-0 against the Golden Knights, with Colorado winning the lone away game 3-2. The Avs split the two home games at Ball Arena, losing 3-2 on January 2, and shutting out the Golden Knights 3-0 on February 27. Colorado has won its past three road contests against the Golden Knights, outscoring them 8-4. Saturday’s outing is the first of three games scheduled between the two teams this season. They’ll play in Denver on January 10 at Ball Arena and conclude the season series April 14 at T-Mobile Arena.
HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE
Colorado played on Wednesday night at home after returning from a three-game road trip and defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1. The franchise is now 74-68-11-7 all-time against the Blues. The Avalanche/Nordiques are 46-26-7-3 against the Blues all-time at home; Those 46 wins are the second most home victories against any franchise (Carolina Hurricanes-49). Colorado is now 3-0-0 at home this season, their best home start since 2019-20 (4-0-0). They have outscored the opposition 14-5 in the three contests. Wednesday was the franchise’s 900th regular season home win and the 600th home victory since relocating to Denver.
AVALANCHE vs BLUES 11.1.2023 RECAP
Colorado kicked off the scoring in the first period with a goal from Ross Colton. It was his first home tally since being acquired by the Avs. Miles Wood’s assist on Colton’s goal was his 150th career point. Mikko Rantanen extended the lead in the first period with a power-play tally, his team-leading sixth goal of the season and the eventual game-winner. St. Louis’ lone goal came from Robert Thomas in the second period. Artturi Lehkonen notched his third goal of the season in the third period. Bowen Byram concluded the scoring with his second goal of the season, while playing in his 100th career game. Ivan Prosvetov started in his first game with the Avalanche since being acquired via waivers from the Arizona Coyotes and stopped 27 out of 28 shots.
The Avalanche have now won 11 straight games when Rantanen (1-1-2), Nathan MacKinnon (0-2-2) and Cale Makar (0-2-2) each record two or more points in the same regular-season contest.
Rantanen’s power-play goal made him the seventh player in Avalanche/Nordiques history with 80 power-play goals. The goal also put Rantanen in sole possession of the fourth most all-time power-play goals by a Finnish born player, passing Saku Koivu (79).
The Avalanche went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power-play. Colorado owns the second-highest penalty kill percentage in the NHL at 94.4%.
GROUNDING THE JETS
The Golden Knights defeated the Jets 5-2 on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena. William Karlsson tallied his fourth of the season to kick off the scoring in the first period. After, the Jets equalized the game, Jonathan Marchessault regained the lead for the Golden Knights, with his first of three goals. Ivan Barbashev scored what would be the game-winner in the second period, his third of the season. Alex Iafallo scored the Jets final goal in the third period, his fourth of the season. Marchessault tallied two more goals to complete his hat-trick in the third period. It was Marchessault’s franchise-leading 21st multi-goal game with the Golden Knights, it was also his fourth career regular season hat trick, his third with Vegas.
Karlsson’s goal extended his career-best eight-game point streak (4g/6a in that time)
Logan Thompson recorded his first career assist on Marchessault’s first tally.
The Golden Knights (10-0-1) became the 13th team in NHL history to post a season-opening point streak of at least 11 games and just the third in the past 16 years following the Florida Panthers (11GP in 2021-22) and Chicago Blackhawks (24GP in 2012-13).
The 11-game point streak is its second-longest in franchise history (in a single season). A 13-game streak from 12/3/18 to 1/2/19 is the longest. Vegas has a 19-game point streak stretching back to last season (15-10-4). The last regulation loss was 3/28/23.
FACTS TO KNOW
Nathan MacKinnon (3g/1a), Mikko Rantanen (3g/1a), and Artturi Lehkonen (0g/4a) paced Colorado with four points apiece against the Golden Knights last season.
Rantanen and MacKinnon led the way for the Avs with three goals each last season against the Golden Knights.
Alexandar Georgiev started in all three games last season against the Golden Knights, stopping 89-94 shots, posting a .947 SV%, and notching a shutout.
SCOUTING THE ENEMY
William Karlsson ranks 14th in the NHL amongst all skaters with 13 points (4g/9a).
Shea Theodore has recorded 10 points (3g/7a), which is the seventh-most points amongst blue-liners in the NHL.
Logan Thompson and Adin Hill possess the sixth (.932) and seventh (.923) best SV% in the NHL.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
21
Nathan MacKinnon’s leads all active Avalanche skaters with 21 points (7g/14a) against the Golden Knights in 22 games. MacKinnon’s 21 points are the seventh most recorded against the Golden Knights all-time.
200/500
Mikko Rantanen will be playing in his 500th career NHL game and Ross Colton will be playing in his 200th career NHL game Saturday night.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“Mikko (Rantanen) made a nice play coming out of the zone and our line has been trying to play fast and play forward. Miles (Wood) made a nice play, and I was fortunate enough that I got a step on the defenseman and just tried to fire it on net and luckily it went in.”
- Colorado Center Ross Colton on his goal and team play
