Colorado host the Blackhawks for the Avalanche’s home opener of the 2023-24 regular season.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (2-2-0) AT COLORADO AVALANCHE (3-0-0)
8:30 PM MDT | BALL ARENA |WATCH: ESPN | LISTEN: 92.5FM
The Colorado Avalanche take on the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night in the home opener. The game is the fifth road game of the season for the Blackhawks, who wrap up their season opening road trip.
Latest Results:
October 17,2023 COL: 4 SEA: 1
October 16,2023 CHI: 4 TOR: 1
STAYING PERFECT
Colorado finished its three-game road trip to begin the season by defeating the Kraken 4-1 on Tuesday night. The Avalanche are now 4-1-0 all-time on the road at Climate Pledge Arena, outscoring Seattle 14-8. Colorado is 3-0-0 on the season, for the seventh time in franchise history. It is the best road start for the Avalanche in the past ten years. The victory was the teams’ 14th consecutive regular-season win on the road dating back to last season, tying the NHL record for the longest road win streak spanning multiple seasons with the Buffalo Sabres (Apr. 3, 2006 - Nov. 13, 2006).
AVALANCHE vs KRAKEN 10.17.2023 RECAP
Seattle kicked off the scoring in the first period with a goal from Kailer Yamamoto. Artturi Lehkonen leveled the game at one in the second period with his first goal of the season. Logan O’Connor scored the Avs first short-handed goal of the new campaign, which would end up being the game winner eight minutes after Lehkonen’s goal. Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin added goals in the third period to close the game out.
With an assist on O’Connor’s goal, Cale Makar became the fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach the 250 point mark (241 games). The previous mark was held by Hall-of-Famer Bobby Orr (247 games). For the second time in his career Makar has started the season with a three-game point streak (other: 2019-20 where he posted a five-game point streak. He has two goals and two assists early on in 2023-24.
Mikko Rantanen’s third period goal was the 11,000th goal in franchise history.
Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves on 38 shots. Georgiev is 3-0-0 in the first three games of the season for the Avs, it is his longest winning streak to start a season in his career.
The Avalanche went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power-play. The Avs are one of eight teams that have not conceded a power-play goal.
HISTORY
Colorado has a 77-56-9-8 all-time record against Chicago, with a 42-23-6-4 mark at home. In last season’s, meetings the Avalanche went 2-1-0 against the Blackhawks with Colorado winning both home games. The Avs lost the lone road game at the United Center 3-2. The Avalanche outscored the Blackhawks 12-5 in the three contests. Since the 2017-18 season the Avalanche are 14-3-3 against the Blackhawks with a goal differential of +34. This is the fourth time in the Avalanche’s history that they have opened their season at home against the Blackhawks, as well as the second straight season. The Avs are 3-0-0 in those contests outscoring the Blackhawks 13-5. Last year Colorado began their season by winning the home opener against the Blackhawks on the teams’ banner raising night 5-2. Thursday’s contest is one of two games at Ball Arena between the two teams this season. They’ll play again in Denver on March 4, with the others set for December 19 and February 29 at the United Center.
BACKGROUND ON THE BLACKHAWKS
Chicago beat Toronto 4-1 on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena. MacKenzie Entwistle tallied the first goal of the game in the second period for the Blackhawks. After Toronto tied the game in the second period, Corey Perry scored what would be the game-winning goal. Tyler Johnson tallied his third goal of the season and Taylor Raddysh sealed the game with an empty netter. Perry’s game winning goal was his first with the Blackhawks; He has scored a game-winning goal with five different franchises (regular season or playoffs). Only four active players have done so with more teams: Kevin Shattenkirk (6), David Perron (6), Marcus Johansson (6), and Erik Haula (6). Arvid Soderblom made 34 saves out of 35 shots on goal. The Blackhawks went 1-for-4 on the power-play and were able to kill off all three Maple Leaf’s power-plays. Chicago is also one of the eight teams that have yet to concede a power-play goal.
PROJECTED LINES
The team played on Tuesday in Seattle. Below are the line combinations and defensive pairings the Avalanche deployed.
Forwards
Nichushkin – MacKinnon – Rantanen
Lehkonen – Johansen – Drouin
Wood – Colton – Tatar
Cogliano – Olofsson – O'Connor
Defenseman
Toews – Makar
Girard – Byram
Johnson - Manson
Goalies
Georgiev
Prosvetov
*SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FACTS TO KNOW
Mikko Rantanen led Colorado with seven points (1g/6a) against the Blackhawks last season playing in all three contests. Four of his six assists were recorded in the first contest between the two teams on opening night.
Valeri Nichushkin tied Artturi Lehkonen for the team lead in goals against Chicago last season with two. All four goals between the two players were scored on opening night.
Alexandar Georgiev started in both wins last season against the Blackhawks. He recorded a .955 SV% in those two outings, notched a shutout, and only allowed two total goals (42-for-44). Chicago was one of nine teams Georgiev swept during the regular season (Calgary 2-0, Columbus 2-0, Detroit 1-0, Edmonton 2-0, Montreal 2-0, Nashville 4-0, San Jose 3-0, Washington 2-0).
SCOUTING THE ENEMY
Corey Perry leads all active Blackhawks skaters with 38 points (17g/21a) in 52 career games played against the Avalanche.
Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Johnson tied for the team lead with two points each against the Avalanche last season. Taylor Raddysh and Athanasiou both tallied one goal each to pace the Blackhawks in the season series.
NUMBERS GAME
29
Ryan Johansen’s 29 points against the Blackhawks are tied for the most (San Jose) he has recorded against an NHL team. The Blackhawks also represent the most assists Johansen has tallied against an NHL club in his career with 21.
28
Mikko Rantanen has tallied 28 points in 21 career games against Chicago. Rantanen has recorded 13 career points on the power-play in his career against the Blackhawks and has only recorded more against the Canucks, Ducks, Kings, and Wild (14 apiece).
4
Alexandar Georgiev is a perfect 4-0-0 in his career against the Blackhawks, posting a .938 Sv%, 1.50 GAA, one shutout and only allowed six goals out of 97 shots faced.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“Georgie (Georgiev) has definitely been our best penalty killer, when there are breakdowns he has been there to make the critical stops that we need. I think that with the penalty kill right now it’s just about trusting your instincts and one another."
- Colorado right wing Logan O’Connor on Alexandar Georgiev and the penalty kill.
