MONTREAL CANADIENS NOTES:
À SURVEILLER CE SOIR / KEEP AN EYE ON…
- Les Canadiens et l’Avalanche s’affrontent ce soir pour la 149e fois en saison régulière. En incluant les matchs de séries, c’est le 180e affrontement entre ces deux équipes.
- The Canadiens and Avalanche are facing each other for the 149th time in regular season. Including playoff contests, tonight’s the 180th match-up between the two teams.
DERNIER MATCH / LAST GAME – MTL 3 @ ARI 2 (P/OT) (@ MULLETT ARENA)
Buts MTL Goals – Caufield, Dvorak, Hoffman (P/OT)
Buts ARI Goals – Schmaltz, Maccelli
Gardien MTL Goalie – Montembeault (37-39)
Gardien ARI Goalie – Vejmelka (23-26)
Avantage numérique MTL Powerplay – 0/2
Avantage numérique ARI Powerplay – 0/2
Meneurs MTL Leaders – TOI (Guhle – 23:37) ; S (Anderson, Caufield, Guhle, Hoffman – 3) ; HT (Edmundson, Richard – 3) ; BS (Harris – 3)
MATCHS À VENIR / UPCOMING GAMES
23 DÉC. @ DALLAS 20h / 8 p.m.
28 DÉC. @ TAMPA BAY 19 h / 7 p.m.
29 DÉC. @ FLORIDE 19 h / 7 p.m.
31 DÉC. @ WASHINGTON 16 h / 4 p.m.
3 JAN. @ NASHVILLE 20 h / 8 p.m.
RAPPORT MÉDICAL DE LA SAISON / SEASON INJURY REPORT
Joueur
Player
Date Blessure
Injury
Matchs ratés
Games lost
Retour
Return
C. Price – Genou / Knee 32 –
P. Byron – Hanche / Hip 32 –
M. Matheson – Haut du corps / Upper-body 17 19/11/2022
B. Gallagher – Bas du corps / Lower-body 10 –
D. Savard – Haut du corps / Upper-body 8 –
S. Monahan – Bas du corps / Lower-body 7 –
RÉAFFECTATIONS, SIGNATURES ET TRANSACTIONS / ROSTER MOVES, SIGNINGS AND TRANSACTIONS
Les Canadiens ont cédé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick au Rocket de Laval et ont rappelé l’attaquant Anthony Richard (18/12)
The Canadiens have loaned forward Rem Pitlick to the Laval Rocket and recalled forward Anthony Richard (12/18)
Les Canadiens ont rappelé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick du Rocket de Laval (01/12)
The Canadiens have recalled forward Rem Pitlick from the Laval Rocket (12/01)
Les Canadiens ont cédé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick au Rocket de Laval (18/11)
The Canadiens have loaned forward Rem Pitlick to the Laval Rocket (11/18)
Les Canadiens ont rappelé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick du Rocket de Laval (16/11)
The Canadiens have recalled forward Rem Pitlick from the Laval Rocket (11/16)
Les Canadiens ont placé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick au ballottage (07/11)
The Canadiens have placed forward Rem Pitlick on waivers (11/07)
NOTES DES CANADIENS / CANADIENS NOTES
STATISTIQUES D’ÉQUIPE / TEAM STATISTICS – AVANT LES MATCHS DU 20/12 – BEFORE GAMES ON 12/20
PTS (32 – 23e/23rd)
V/W (15 – 21e/21st)
BP/GF (88 – 26e/26th)
BC/GA (112 – 24e/24th)
Tirs-PM/Shots-PG (28.7 – 30e/30th)
Tirs accordés-PM/Shots allowed-PG (33.0 – 26e/26th)
MÉ/Hits (558 – 30e/30th)
MP/PIM (387 – 3e/3rd)
AN/PP (13.7% – 32e/32nd)
DN/PK (79.3% – 16e/16th)
LES CANADIENS CONTRE CHAQUE DIVISION L’AN DERNIER / THE HABS VS. EVERY DIVISION LAST SEASON
Adversaire
Opponent
Fiche
Record
PTS Buts pour
Goals for
Buts contre
Goals against
Atlantique 9-14-3 21 84 89
Centrale 3-9-4 10 39 65
Métropolitaine 6-17-1 13 55 103
Pacifique 4-9-3 11 43 62
Total 22-49-11 55 221 319
*Inclut les buts en fusillade / Includes the shootout goals
LES CANADIENS CONTRE CHAQUE DIVISION CETTE SAISON / THE HABS VS. EVERY DIVISION THIS SEASON
Division Fiche
Record
PTS Buts pour
Goals for
Buts contre
Goals against
Atlantique 3-4-0 6 15 25
Centrale 4-3-1 9 25 25
Métropolitaine 4-3-0 8 22 25
Pacifique 4-5-1 9 30 37
Total 15-15-2 32 92 112
*Inclut les buts en fusillade / Includes the shootout goals
MARTIN ST-LOUIS EN CHIFFRES / MARTIN ST. LOUIS’ NUMBERS…
Matchs/Games : 69
Victoires/Wins : 29
Fiche : 29-34-6
Points de classement/Standing points : 64
CANADIENS VS. COLORADO
À vie / All-Time
CANADIENS vs. COL 72-57-15-4 (148 PJ / GP)
Dom. / Home 44-19-10-2 (75 PJ / GP)
Étr. / Away 28-38-5-2 (73 PJ / GP)
Dern. Match / Last game:
DP 3-2 OTL @ COL (22/01/22)
C. Primeau 3-46 | D. Kuemper 2-30
BG / WG: G. Landeskog (P/OT)
10 DERNIERS MATCHS CONTRE COLORADO / LAST 10 GAMES VS. COLORADO:
22/01/22 – MTL 2 @ COL 3 (P/OT)
02/12/21 – COL 4 @ MTL 1
05/12/19 – COL 3 @ MTL 2
12/01/19 – COL 0 @ MTL 3
19/12/18 – MTL 1 @ COL 2
14/02/18 – MTL 0 @ COL 2
23/02/18 – COL 2 @ MTL 4
07/02/17 – MTL 0 @ COL 4
10/12/16 – COL 1 @ MTL 10
17/02/16 – MTL 2 @ COL 3
CETTE SAISON CONTRE COLORADO / THIS SEASON VS. COLORADO
Match #1: 21/12/2022 @ COL
Match #2: 13/03/2023 @ MTL
MEILLEURS BUTEURS CONTRE COLORADO / LEADING GOAL SCORERS VS. COLORADO:
1) Mike Hoffman (9-11-20, 20 pj/gp)
2) Sean Monahan (7-13-20, 23 pj/gp)
3) Brendan Gallagher (5-2-7, 12 pj/gp)
MEILLEURS POINTEURS CONTRE COLORADO / LEADING SCORERS VS. COLORADO:
1) Mike Hoffman (9-11-20, 20 pj/gp)
2) Sean Monahan (7-13-20, 23 pj/gp)
3) Brendan Gallagher (5-2-7, 12 pj/gp)
COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Wed, Dec. 21 MONTREAL 6 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Fri, Dec. 23 at Nashville 6 p.m. Altitude 92.5
- NHL HOLIDAY BREAK, Dec. 24-26 –
Tue, Dec. 27 at Arizona 7 p.m. Altitude 2 92.5
Thu, Dec. 29 LOS ANGELES 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Sat, Dec. 31 TORONTO 5 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Mon, Jan. 2 LAS VEGAS 7 p.m. Altitude 2 950 AM
LAST GAME – Dec. 19 (Colorado 1, NY Islanders 0 in shootout)
Alexandar Georgiev stopped all 26 shots through regulation and overtime and turned aside all three shootout attempts to give the Avalanche a 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders at Ball Arena … Evan Rodrigues tallied the lone goal of the shootout as the Avs won for the fourth time in their last five games …. The Avalanche out-shot New York 46-26 and out-attempted them 92-51, with Ilya Sorokin making 46 saves for the Islanders
SF: 46 SA: 26 PP: 0-2 PK: 1-1
• Georgiev became the second goalie in Avalanche history to post a 1-0 shootout win, joining Reto Berra on April 9, 2015 vs. Winnipeg
• The 46 shots were the most ever by Colorado/Quebec in a game in which they did not score a goal … The previous high was 45 shots on Dec. 22, 1998 vs. Anaheim and Oct. 30, 2000 vs. Phoenix
• The Avalanche improved to 5-2 in games decided beyond regulation, 3-1 in shootouts … The three shootout wins are tied for second in the NHL behind only Montreal (4-0)
• Mikko Rantanen set a career high in shots-on-goal (10) and ice time (29:04)
• J.T. Compher logged a career-high 27:47 of ice time
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO vs. MONTREAL
6:12 p.m.
Sportsnet, Altitude / 92.5
Sportsnet: John Bartlett (play-by-play), Garry Galley (analyst), Kyle Bukauskas (reporter)
Altitude: Marc Moser (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst), Katie Gaus (reporter)
Radio: Conor McGahey
The Avalanche finishes their season-long, five-game homestand tonight against the Montreal Canadiens at Ball Arena … The Avs are 3-1-0 so far on this home stay and 4-1-0 in their last five games … The Avs are currently in a stretch that finds them playing seven of eight and 10 of 13 at home … This is the last home game before the Holiday Break, as the Avalanche will play in Nashville on Friday before taking three days off … Friday’s game concludes a stretch of 13 games in 25 days as the club has played every other day since Nov. 29 … There have been no games on Christmas Eve since 1972 (when three were played) and none on Christmas Day since 1971 (when six were played) … There have been none on Dec. 26 since 2011-12
AVALANCHE & CANADIENS
Tonight is the first of two meetings between the Avalanche and Canadiens … Colorado won both matchups last year, sweeping the season series for the first time since 2015-16 … Tonight is the 149th regular-season meeting between these two franchises who used to share a province … Colorado/Quebec is 61-72-15 all-time against Montreal but do hold a 22- 10-3 edge since the franchise relocated to Denver … The Avs are 13-2-1 at home against the Canadiens since relocating which includes five straight wins here at Ball Arena.
SCHEDULE vs. CANADIENS
Dec. 21 vs. MTL
Mar. 13 @ MTL
RECORD VS. CANADIENS
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96
Overall: — Overall: 2-0-0 Overall: 61-72-15 Overall: 22-10-3
Home: — Home: 1-0-0 Home: 40-28-5 Home: 13-2-1
Road: — Road: 1-0-0 Road: 21-44-10 Away: 9-8-2
CROWDED DRESSING ROOM
The Avalanche have used 35 players this season (33 skaters, two goalies), tied with Columbus for the most of any team in the NHL … If Denis Malgin makes his Avalanche debut tonight he would become the 36th player to appear in a game for Colorado this season … The club used 39 players in each of the last two seasons, which tied the Avalanche record (since relocating) also set in 2010-11, 2003-04 and 1998-99 … Colorado’s injury list is now at 172 which puts them unofficially fourth in the league behind Washington (216), Columbus (196) and Philadelphia (192).
WORKING OVERTIME (AND SHOOTOUTS)
The Avalanche are 5-2 in games decided past regulation, 2-1 in overtime and 3-1 in shootouts … Colorado’s three shootout wins are tied for second in the NHL behind only Montreal (4-0) … Following Monday’s win over the Islanders, the Avalanche improved to 80-45 all-time in shootouts, the highest winning percentage (.640) of any team since the tiebreaker started in 2005-06 (not including Seattle) … The Avs have the best all-time shooting percentage at 38.3% (161/420) and the fifth-best save percentage at .717 (306/427) … Alexandar Georgiev has participated in all four shootouts this year, allowing just three goals on 13 shots (.769) … His three wins are tied with Jake Allen for the league lead while his .769 save percentage ranks second among all netminders who have faced 10+ shots behind Logan Thompson (.917) … Georgiev is 9-4 with a .688 save percentage in career shootouts (48/15) … Pavel Francouz is 3-0 in career shootouts stopping all nine shots he’s faced … Evan Rodrigues is 2-for-2 in shootouts this year, scoring the winning tally in both contests.
EAST SIDE STORY
The Avalanche are 9-6-1 against Eastern Conference teams this season … Colorado finished 22-8-2 against the East last year, its most wins and tied for its most points (46) ever against the “other” conference … Since Jared Bednar was hired in 2016, the Avs are 99-60-16 against the Eastern Conference, which includes a league-best 52-20-7 (.703) mark since 2019-20.
20-20 VISION
Mikko Rantanen is tied for fifth in the NHL in goals (21) and ranks second in even-strength tallies (17) … He scored his 20th goal of the season on Dec. 15 against the Sabres, reaching the 20-goal mark for the sixth time in his seven NHL seasons … Rantanen, who hit the milestone in Colorado’s 28th game of the season, became the first player in Avalanche history to reach the 20-goal mark in fewer than 30 contests … Joe Sakic (1995-96) and Nathan MacKinnon (2018-19) both did it in the 30th game of those respective seasons … Rantanen has 26 points (14g/12a) in 15 home games this year.
GEORGIE(OUS)
Alexandar Georgiev ranks seventh in the NHL in wins (13-tied) and save percentage (.923), is fifth in shutouts (2-tied) and 11th in goals-against average (2.46) …. Going back to last year, he is 21-7-2 in his last 31 regular-season games (30 starts).
ALL HAIL CALE
With 208 career points, Cale Makar is tied with Rob Blake for sixth place on the franchise’s all-time scoring list among defensemen … Makar (55 goals) is one tally behind Adam Foote (56) for sixth place in that category … Cale recorded his 200th career point on Nov. 21 in Dallas, reaching the milestone faster than any defenseman in NHL history (195th game) … He appeared in his 200th career NHL game on Dec. 3 at Boston, with his 203 career points at the time the most ever by a defender through 200 contests … Among defensemen who appeared in at least 200 games during their career, only Makar (1.00), Bobby Orr (1.39) and Paul Coffey (1.09) averaged at least a point-per-game … Cale ranks fifth among NHL blueliners this season with 28 points (7g/21a) in 30 contests … He leads the entire NHL in ice time, averaging 27:07 minutes per game.
FASTEST DEFENSEMEN TO 200 POINTS NHL HISTORY
195 GP Cale Makar COL
207 GP Sergei Zubov NYR, PIT
211 GP Brian Leetch NYR
212 GP Phil Housley BUF
212 GP Denis Potvin NYI
216 GP Mark Howe HFD, PHI
216 GP Bobby Orr BOS
POINTS/GAME AVERAGE, DEFENSEMAN MINIMUM 200 GAMES PLAYED
PT/GP Player PTS GP
1.39 Bobby Orr 915 657
1.09 Paul Coffey 1531 1409
1.00 Cale Makar 208 208
0.99 Denis Potvin 1052 1060
QUICK ON THE DRAW
J.T. Compher leads the NHL with 154 faceoff wins this month (154-127, 54.8%) … Compher won a career-high 25 draws (25- 10, 71%) on Dec. 15 against Buffalo, tied for the third-most faceoff wins in Avalanche history … Colorado won a season-high 48 faceoffs against the Sabres, tied for the eighth most in club history and matching its highest total over the last 20 seasons.
FACEOFF WINS, AVALANCHE HISTORY TEAM FACEOFF WINS, AVALANCHE HISTORY
28 Joe Sakic Jan. 6, 1999 vs. Florida 54 Jan. 6, 1999 vs. Florida
27 Joe Sakic Nov. 3, 2000 vs. Carolina 52 Feb. 22, 2000 vs. Atlanta
25 J.T. Compher Dec. 15, 2022 vs. Buffalo 51 Nov. 1, 1997 vs. Calgary
25 Chris Drury Feb. 22, 2000 vs. Atlanta 51 Feb. 10, 2000 vs. Calgary
25 Peter Forsberg Dec. 19, 1998 at San Jose 50 Oct. 14, 2000 vs. Columbus
50 Oct. 28, 1999 at Philadelphia
50 Jan. 18, 2001 vs. Vancouver
48 Dec. 15, 2022 vs. Buffalo
48 Jan. 6, 2017 vs. NY Islanders
DAYDREAM BELIEVER
The Avalanche will play nine afternoon contests this season … The schedule originally called for 10 daytime contests but the Nov 25th game in Nashville was postponed due to a water main break at Bridgestone Arena … The Avs are 1-0-0 in day games this season and 14-3-1 (.806) in afternoon contests since 2019-20, the second highest points percentage in day contests during that span behind only Carolina (19-3-2, .833) … The Avs finished 5-1-0 in day games last year, 3-0-0 at home.
THAT’S THE POWER OF LOVE
Colorado ranks sixth in the NHL in power-play percentage at 27.2% (28-103) … The Avalanche had the NHL’s top-ranked power play for 55 consecutive days from Oct. 15–Dec. 9 … The Avs are 12-5-1 when scoring a PPG this year, 3-6-1 when failing to do so … Colorado tallied a power-play goal in a season-high eight consecutive games from Oct. 29–Nov. 26 … The Avalanche’s power play scored at a 32.8% clip during the 2022 playoffs, the highest rate on record (since 1977-78) by an NHL team that played at least 20 games … During the 2021-22 regular season, Colorado finished seventh in power-play percentage (24.0%) and led all teams in power-play goals (67).
GRAND CENTRAL
Colorado is 7-2-1 against Central Division teams this season, 4-1-1 at home and 3-1-0 on the road
FIN-ISH WHAT YOU STARTED
Mikko Rantanen tallied his fifth career hat trick, including the tying score with 8.1 seconds left in regulation and the game-winning goal in overtime to finish Colorado’s Dec. 11th victory in St. Louis … Rantanen became the second player in Avalanche history to complete a hat trick with an overtime goal, joining Valeri Kamensky on Jan 3, 1998 at Pittsburgh … Overall, he’s the fourth skater in franchise history to accomplish the feat, as two Quebec Nordiques did it during the 1992- 93 season: Owen Nolan on Nov. 26, 1992 at Toronto and Scott Young on Dec. 12, 1992 at San Jose … Rantanen’s five hat tricks are tied for the sixth most in franchise history and the third most since the team relocated behind Joe Sakic (10) and Peter Forsberg (7).
ONE MONTH AT A TIME
Colorado finished 8-3-0 in November, the 23rd consecutive month that the Avs have posted a .500 or better record in… And 21 of those 23 months featured a winning record.
REVERSE RETRO JERSEY
The Avalanche are 2-0-0 in their adidas Reverse Retro 2022 ADIZERO jerseys … Colorado will wear the RR jersey four times this season: Nov. 26 vs. Dallas (W, 4-1), Dec. 11 at St. Louis (W, 3-2 OT), Dec. 29 vs. Los Angeles and Jan. 2 vs. Vegas … The 2022 Colorado Avalanche Reverse Retro uniform pays tribute to its home state by incorporating colors of the Colorado flag while reintroducing the original jersey design donned in the 1995 inaugural season.
FINNISH FIREWORKS
Led by Nathan MacKinnon’s seven combined points (0g/7a) and Mikko Rantanen’s hat trick in the opener, the Avalanche swept the two-game NHL Global Series from the Blue Jackets in early November, out-scoring Columbus 11-4 … Colorado’s six goals in the 6-3 opening win set an NHL record for a single game outside of North America while the 11 combined goals were also the most over a two-game overseas series … Rantanen’s hat trick was just the third outside of North America in history, while MacKinnon’s four helpers that first night set a record for the most assists in a single game outside of North America … Alexandar Georgiev started and won both games, allowing four goals 71 shots (2.02 GAA, .944 Sv%) … His two victories already equal the record for career wins in games played overseas … MacKinnon’s seven assists and eight career points (he had one goal in the 2017 Global Series in Sweden) are both records for games played outside North America.
SHORT AND SWEET
Colorado is tied for third in the NHL with four shorthanded goals
BACK-TO-BACK
The Avalanche will play 13 back-to-backs this season … They have competed in four back-to-backs so far, going 2-2-0 in the first game and 2-2-0 in the second … The Avalanche posted a 15-5-2 (.727) combined record in back-to-back games last season, the second-best mark behind Minnesota (.732, 19-6-3) … The Avs finished 7-3-1 in the first game and 8-2-1 in the second (.773), with only Tampa (10-0-2, .917) posting a better record in the second half of a back-to-back.
RECORD REGULAR SEASON
The 2021-22 Avalanche set a franchise record with 56 wins and 119 points en route to winning their second straight division title and 11th since moving to Denver (13th in franchise history) … The Avs clinched the conference’s top spot despite facing a 10-point deficit behind the No. 1 seed on Dec. 3 … The last team to win their conference after overcoming a deficit of 10 or more points was the Rangers in 2014-15 (13) … The Avalanche sat in first place in the Western Conference over the final 106 days of the season and from Feb 10–April 19 were first in the entire NHL for all but one day (68 out of 69).
WINS, FRANCHISE HISTORY POINTS, FRANCHISE HISTORY
56 2021-22 119 2021-22
52 2000-01 118 2000-01
52 2013-14 112 2013-14
TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT
The 2021-22 Avalanche posted their best home season in franchise history with a 32-5-4 record (68 points) … Colorado tied Florida for the league lead in home points, ending with the most home points in the NHL for the second straight season after tying Pittsburgh with 46 in 2020-21 … The Avs posted an 18-game home winning streak from Nov. 11–Jan. 30, the fifth longest run in NHL history, and had a franchise record 22-game home point streak (20-0-2) from Oct. 30–Feb. 10.
AINT NO MOUNTAIN HIGH, AINT NO VALLEY LOW
Colorado’s Stanley Cup championship came five years after a last-place finish in 2016-17 …. The Avs became the fifth team in the expansion era (1967-68) to win a title within five years of a last place finish and the first since the 2009 Penguins … Colorado won the Presidents’ Trophy the previous year in 2020-21, becoming the first NHL team to go from worst to first overall in four seasons or less since the Bruins in 1970-71.
DOWN BUT NEVER OUT
Ten of the Avalanche’s wins during the 2022 postseason were earned in come-from-behind fashion, including four thirdperiod comebacks … colorado’s 10 comeback wins tied the 2009 Penguins for the most in NHL history … The Avs trailed in all four of their series-clinching victories, the first team in NHL history to do so.
ROAD, SWEET ROAD
The Avalanche finished a league-best 9-1 on the road during the 2022 postseason, tied for the fewest road losses by a Stanley Cup champion since 1987 (the 2012 Kings and 1995 Devils were both 10-1) … Colorado earned all four series-clinching wins on the road.
MAGIC YEAR FOR MAKAR
After becoming the first player in franchise history to win the Norris Trophy in 2021-22, Makar followed that up by winning the 2022 Conn Smythe as playoff MVP … At 23 years, 239 days, he became the youngest defenseman in 52 years to win the Conn Smythe and just the third overall to do so at age 23 or younger, joining Bobby Orr with the 1970 Bruins (22 years, 51 days) and Serge Savard with the 1969 Canadiens (23 years, 102 days) … Makar won the Conn Smythe just five days after receiving his first Norris Trophy … He became the third player to win both awards in the same season, following Orr in 1970 and Nicklas Lidstrom in 2002 … Makar led the Avalanche and all NHL defensemen with 29 points (8g/21a) in 20 games, the fourth-highest total by a defenseman in Stanley Cup Playoff history behind Paul Coffey (37) with the 1985 Oilers, Brian Leetch (34) with the 1994 Rangers and Al MacInnis (31) with the 1989 Flames.
SONG SUNG BLUE(LINE)
Colorado’s defensemen produced 64 goals last season, a franchise record and the most by any team since the 1992-93 Capitals (94) … The Avalanche’s blueline also lead all teams in points with a franchise-record 238, the most since the 1995-96 Red Wings had 240 … Colorado’s defensemen finished with 69 points (18g/51a) during the playoffs, the most by any blueline in a four-round postseason since the 1984-85 Oilers (77).
IN BEDNAR WE TRUST
Jared Bednar is in his seventh season as the Avalanche’s head coach … Hired on Aug. 25, 2016, he is the third-longest tenured coach in the NHL behind Jon Cooper (March 25, 2013) and Mike Sullivan (Dec. 12, 2015) … Jared led the 2021-22 Avalanche to their most successful regular season in franchise history (56-19-7, 119 points) and continued that into the postseason with a 16-4 playoff mark en route to capturing the 2022 Stanley Cup … Bednar, who won a Calder Cup with the Lake Erie Monsters in 2016 and a Kelly Cup with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2009, became the first individual to win a championship in the NHL, AHL and ECHL as a head coach … He is the winningest coach in Avalanche history with a 257-179- 48 (.581) regular season record … Bednar owns a 40-22-1 (.635) record in 63 postseason games, the best playoff winning percentage among active coaches and the third highest all time (min 50 GP) behind Glen Sather (.706) and Toe Blake (.689).
SUPER JOE ACHIEVES RARE FIRST
General Manager (now President) Joe Sakic, who captained the Avalanche to a pair of titles in 1996 and 2001, became the first individual in league history to win a Stanley Cup as a captain and GM with the same organization … He was just the third to win a championship as a player and general manager with the same franchise, joining Serge Savard of the Canadiens and Milt Schmidt of the Bruins.
TIP OF CAP
Gabriel Landeskog is in his 12th NHL season and 11th as team captain … He was the youngest captain in NHL history when he assumed the role at 19 years, 286 days on Sept. 4, 2012, a title he held for four years before Connor McDavid was given the ‘C’ by Edmonton at 19 years, 266 days on Oct. 5, 2016 … Landeskog is the second-longest serving captain in franchise history behind Joe Sakic (17 seasons, 16 consecutive) … Only three players have been captain of their current teams longer.
