COLORADO AVALANCHE (4-0-0) VS CAROLINA HURRICANES (3-2-0)
7:00 PM MST | BALL ARENA | WATCH: Altitude TV | LISTEN: 92.5FM
The Colorado Avalanche take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night for the team’s second game at Ball Arena. The contest is Carolina’s only visit to Colorado in the regular season. The Avalanche-Hurricanes tilt can be watched on Altitude TV with puck drop scheduled for at 7 p.m. MDT.
Latest Results:
October 19, 2023 | COL: 4, CHI: 0
October 19, 2023 | SEA: 7, CAR: 4
REMAINING UNDEFEATED
Colorado enters Saturday’s matchup with four out of 82 regular-season games behind them, the latest being a 4-0 shutout win against Seattle. Alexandar Georgiev collected his first shutout of the season, the 14th in his career, and his second shutout against Chicago. Colorado enters tonight with the second-most wins (4) this season, trailing only the Vegas Golden Knights (5). Mikko Rantanen continues to lead Colorado in points with seven (3g/4a), followed by Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon both tied at four points (2g/2a) apiece.
COLORADO BLANKS BLACKHAWKS ON 10.19.23
The Colorado Avalanche blanked the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0, reaming undefeated, in the season’s home opener at Ball Arena on Thursday.
Logan O’Connor opened the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first period of play at the 11:46 mark, giving Colorado a 1-0 lead. O’Connor has now scored short-handed in consecutive games.
Ryan Johansen scored his first goal in an Avalanche sweater. The centerman batted a loose puck in front of Chicago’s netminder Peter Mrazek to light the lamp and further Colorado’s lead. The goal came on the power play, marking the first time this season the Avalanche tallied at least one even-strength, power-play and shorthanded goal in a game.
In the middle frame, Devon Toews saw the back of the net from a tic-tac-toe sequence ending with a one-timer from the right circle to give the Avalanche a 3-0 lead.
Colorado scored the fourth and final goal when Tomas Tatar made a pass through traffic in front of the crease to MacKinnon who hammered a wrister home.
Georgiev accumulated his 14th career shutout win, and first of the season, by saving all 18 shots he faced in net.
HISTORY
Colorado owns a 79-49-21-3 all-time record against Carolina, with a 48-19-9-1 mark at home. Last season the Avalanche went 2-0-0 against the eventual Metropolitan Division champions and look to win their fourth in a row over the Canes tonight. Saturday’s matchup is the first of two games between the teams this season, with the other set for February 8, 2024, in Raleigh. Colorado goes into today's matchup following a shutout win while Carolina had a 7-4 loss to Seattle. While Carolina recently fell short to the Kraken, Colorado posted a 4-1 victory against Seattle on October 17, 2023.
The Hurricanes are 2-2-0 on the road this season and are in the midst of a six-game road trip on Saturday. One of Carolina’s road losses was at the hands of former Colorado Eagles Head Coach Greg Cronin, who got his first win in Anaheim since making the jump to the Ducks this offseason. Cronin was the head coach of the Avalanche’s affiliate team, the Colorado Eagles, for five seasons from 2018-2023, compiling a record of 164-104-30.
HURRICANE PROTOCOL
Martin Necas led Carolina in points (1g/1a) against the Avalanche last season, in two games.
Sebastian Aho leads all-active Hurricane skaters with nine points (4g/5a) in 12 career games against the Avalanche. However, Aho was scratched the last two games with an upper-body injury.
NUMBERS GAME
16
Nathan MacKinnon leads active scorers against the Hurricanes with 16 points (5g/11a) in 17 games. When at home, MacKinnon has accumulated 11 of those points (4g/7a) in nine games.
4
Rantanen notched four points (1g/3a) against the Hurricanes last season in the matchup at Ball Arena on November 12, 2022, in a 4-1 victory.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“He’s excited. He knows this is his job and he’s taken a lot of ownership. He’s working extremely hard: in the off-season, through camp, through now in the regular season. He wants the net. Highly competitive guy which is exactly what we want in net.”
- Colorado Head Coach Jared Bednar on Alexandar Georgiev
