COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Sat, Mar. 4 at Dallas 1:30 p.m. ESPN+, ABC, SNet 92.5 FM
Sun, Mar. 5 SEATTLE 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Tue, Mar. 7 SAN JOSE 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Thu, Mar. 9 LOS ANGELES 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Sat, Mar. 11 ARIZONA 4 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
TODAY’S GAME
COLORADO @ DALLAS
1:42 p.m. MT / 2:42 p.m. CT
ABC, ESPN+ / 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche heads to Dallas for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the division-rival Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center … Today’s game is the first half of a back-to-back for the Avs, who will host Seattle tomorrow night in Denver… The Avs are coming off a 7-5 loss to the Devils at home on Wednesday, snapping a six-game winning streak and eight-game point streak (7-0-1) … Colorado is still 7-1-1 in its last nine games and 14-3-2 in its last 19 contests … Colorado has won four straight road games and is 7-1-1 in the last nine away from home … The Avalanche finished 7-1-2 (.800) in February, the second-best record in the NHL behind the Bruins (9-1-0, .900) … Today starts a stretch of 15 games in 26 days through March 29.
ON THE CALL
ESPN+/ABC: Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Brian Boucher (analyst), Leah Hextall (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey
LAST GAME
March 1 – New Jersey 7, Colorado 5 at Ball Arena
The Avalanche rallied from 5-1 down to twice pull within a goal but the Devils held on to beat Colorado, 7-5, at Ball Arena… Dawson Mercer had a goal and three assists and Tomas Tatar added a goal and two helpers as New Jersey snapped Colorado’s six-game winning streak and eight-game point streak … Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for the Avalanche, while Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and one assist … Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher had the other tallies for Colorado and Justus Annunen made 22 saves in his second start of the year.
SF: 31 SA: 29 PP: 0-1 PK: 1-2
The loss snapped Colorado’s six-game winning streak, which equaled a season high, and eight-game point streak (7-0-1), which was the club’s longest of 2022-23 Rantanen scored for the sixth consecutive game, tying his career-long goal streak set Jan. 15-26, 2021 … He is one shy of matching the longest streak by an Avalanche player since the franchise relocated … Joe Sakic scored in seven straight in 1997-98 and 1999-2000 and Milan Hejduk did it in 2002-03 Rantanen’s tally was his 41st goal of the season, tied for the fourth-most by a Colorado player since the team moved to Denver Rantanen’s goal was his league-leading 33rd at even strength, the most in a single season in Avalanche history (since relocating) MacKinnon extended his goal streak to five games and point streak to nine games, both season highs … His nine-game point streak ties Artturi Lehkonen (Nov. 5-26) for the longest by an Avalanche player in 2022-23 … Nathan’s five-game goal streak is one shy of career high set Oct. 4-16, 2018 MacKinnon has points in 12 consecutive home games (10g/11a) The two-goal effort marked MacKinnon’s 199th career multi-point game Compher’s goal came in his 400th career NHL game Rantanen (7:32), MacKinnon (9:00) and Compher (9:36) combined for three goals in a 2:04 span of the second period, the fastest three goals for the Avalanche this season Nichushkin extended his point streak to six games (3g/5a) and picked up his 200th NHL point with an assist on MacKinnon’s first tally Lehkonen had a pair of assists to reach 200 points for his NHL career Josh Manson recorded his 100th career NHL assist on Rantanen’s goal
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Feb. 14 – present)
Darren Helm – lower body (Jan. 14 – present)
Erik Johnson – lower body (Feb. 14 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – lower body (Oct. 12 – present)
Kurtis MacDermid – head (Feb. 27 – present)
Josh Manson – lower body
Total: 333
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Mar. 3 – Keith Kinkaid, Brad Hunt, Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Gustav Rydahl acquired from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Anton Blidh … Rydahl will report to the Colorado Eagles … Cale Makar activated from Injured Reserve
Mar. 1 – Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Lars Eller acquired from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a second-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft … Cale Makar placed on Injured Reserve (retroactive to Feb. 18) … Brad Hunt recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Justus Annunen, Brad Hunt, Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 28 – Justus Annunen recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 27 – Darren Helm placed on Injured Reserve (retroactive to Jan. 12) … Brad Hunt, Jonas Johansson, Ben Meyers recalled from Colorado (AHL) … Brad Hunt, Jonas Johansson, Ben Meyers reassigned to Colorado (AHL)
Feb. 26 – Jack Johnson acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Andreas Englund
Feb. 25 – Justus Annunen recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Keith Kinkaid acquired from the Boston Bruins in exchange for Shane Bowers … Kinkaid reports to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Keaton Middleton signed to a two-year contract through 2024-25 … Justus Annunen, Brad Hunt reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
TODAY’S OPPONENT – DALLAS STARS
The Avalanche and Stars meet for the third time this season and the second and final time here in Dallas … They will face off once more on April 1 at Ball Arena … Colorado won the first two matchups back in November, prevailing 3-2 in a shootout here at American Airlines Center on Nov. 21 and 4-1 less than a week later on Nov. 26 in Denver.
SCHEDULE vs. STARS
Nov. 21 @ Dallas (W, 3-2 SO)
Nov. 26 vs. DALLAS (W, 4-1)
Mar. 4 @ Dallas
Apr. 1 vs. DALLAS
RECORD vs. STARS
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: 2-0-0 Overall: 1-2-0 Overall: 72-55-23 Overall: 49-37-19 Series: 5 (2-3)
Home: 1-0-0 Home: 0-1-0 Home: 43-19-13 Home: 27-14-11 Record: 18-14
Road: 1-0-0 Road: 1-1-0 Road: 29-36-10 Road: 22-23-8 Last: 2020 R2 (L, 3-4)
BACK-TO-BACK
Today’s game is the first half of a back-to-back for the Avs, who will host Seattle tomorrow night in Denver … The Avs have swept four of their last five back-to-back sets are 9-0-1 combined in those last five … Colorado is 11-4-1 (.719) in back-to-back games this season, third best in the NHL behind only Boston (14-2-2, .833) and Carolina (13-3-2, .778) … The Avs are 5-2-1 in the first game and 6-2-0 in the second contest, as only the Hurricanes (7-1-1) and Bruins (7-2-0) have a better record on the second night of a back-to-back … The Avalanche had a stretch of three consecutive sets of back-to-back games from Feb. 14-25, with the club earning 11 of a possible 12 points during that span … All three back-to-backs required travel in between (either home/road or road/home) and all three opponents on the second half of the back-to-back were waiting for the Avs, with Colorado sweeping all three games … 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.
Oct. 12 vs. CHI (W, 5-2)
Oct. 13 @ CGY (L, 3-5)
Oct. 21 vs. SEA (L, 2-3)
Oct. 22 @ VGK (W, 3-2)
Oct. 28 @ NJD (L, 0-1)
Oct. 29 @ NYI (L, 4-5)
Nov. 4 vs. CBJ (W, 6-3)
Nov. 5 @ CBJ (W, 5-1)
Jan. 20 @ VAN (W, 4-1)
Jan. 21 @ SEA (W, 2-1)
Feb. 14 vs. TBL (O, 3-4)
Feb. 15 @ MIN (W, 3-2)
Feb. 18 @ STL (W, 4-1)
Feb. 19 vs. EDM (W,6-5)
Feb. 24 @ WPG (W, 5-1)
Feb. 25 vs. CGY (W, 4-1)
DALLAS STARS NOTES:
LAST DALLAS STARS GAME
March 2, 2023 – STARS 5 at BLACKHAWKS 2
Led by a hat trick from forward Roope Hintz (3-0—3) and a 19-save performance from rookie goalie Matt Murray in his NHL debut, the Stars defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 at United Center on Thursday. Murray, who went undrafted and signed a one-year entry-level contract on Oct. 31, 2022, became the first Stars rookie netminder to win in his NHL debut on the road since Mike Smith on Oct. 21, 2006. Captain Jamie Benn (1-0—1) and defenseman Esa Lindell (1-0—1) rounded out the scoring for the Stars, who won their second game in a row and third in their past four games. Forwards Joe Pavelski (0-2—2), Jason Robertson (0-2—2) and defenseman Miro Heiskanen (0-2—2) had multi-assist nights, while forwards Evgenii Dadonov (0-1—1) and Wyatt Johnston (0-1—1) added helpers.
PP: 2-4 | PK: 2-2 | SF: 36 | SA: 21 | DAL TOI: Heiskanen (25:31 – game high) | Attendance: 17,612
Three Stars: 1. DAL – R. Hintz 2. DAL – M. Heiskanen 3. DAL – J. Benn
UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Time (CT) Location TV/Radio
Sat, March 4, 2023 Colorado Avalanche 2:30 p.m. American Airlines Center ABC/KTCK
Mon, March 6, 2023 Calgary Flames 7:30 p.m. American Airlines Center BSSW/KTCK
Thu, March 9, 2023 Buffalo Sabres 6 p.m. KeyBank Center BSSW/KTCK
Sat, March 11, 2023 Seattle Kraken 9 p.m. Climate Pledge Arena BSSWX/KTCK
Mon, March 13, 2023 Seattle Kraken 9 p.m. Climate Pledge Arena BSSWX/KTCK
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Feb. 28 – Loaned forwards Fredrik Karlstrom and Fredrik Olofsson to Texas (AHL)
March 1 – Recalled forwards Fredrik Karlstrom, Fredrik Olofsson and goaltender Matt Murray from Texas (AHL)
March 1 – Placed forward Luke Glendening on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 17
March 2 – Signed defenseman Gavin White to a three-year entry-level contract
March 2 – Acquired forward Max Domi and goaltender Dylan Wells from Chicago for goaltender Anton Khudobin and a 2025 second-round draft pick
March 2 – Assigned goaltender Dylan Wells and loaned forwards Fredrik Karlstrom, Fredrik Olofsson and goaltender Matt Murray to Texas
March 4 – Acquired forward Scott Reedy from San Jose for forward Jacob Peterson
March 4 – Recalled goaltender Matt Murray and forward Fredrik Olofsson from Texas (AHL)
INJURIES
Man-games lost, 2022-23: 43
NAME INJURY # OF GAMES DATES
D Miro Heiskanen Upper body 3 Oct. 25-29
G Jake Oettinger Lower body 4 Nov. 1-8
F Denis Gurianov Upper body 6 Nov. 11-21
F Roope Hintz Lower body 1 Nov. 19
F Roope Hintz Upper body 7 Jan. 10-21
F Joel Kiviranta Lower body 11 Feb. 8-pres.
F Luke Glendening Undisclosed 7 Feb. 18-pres.
G Scott Wedgewood Undisclosed 1 Feb. 22-25
Undisclosed 3 Mar. 1-pres.
DALLAS STARS NOTES
TODAY’S GAME: Dallas looks to push its win streak to three consecutive games with an afternoon matchup against the Colorado Avalanche at American Airlines Center. Today’s game features two teams separated by just six points in the standings. The Avs, who are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, have three games in hand on the Stars. Dallas enters today’s game holding the top spot in the Western Conference with 79 points (33-16-13), while Colorado sits in third place in the Central with 73 points (34-20-5). This is the third of four meetings between the Stars and Avalanche and the final regular season meeting in Big D. They’ll wrap up their four-game season series on April 1 at Ball Arena in Denver.
MY SOURCES SAY THE ROADS ARE CLEAR AND STREET SIGNS POINT THE WAY
- The Stars are 1-1-0 vs. the Avalanche this season, losing 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 21, 2022 at American Airlines Center and falling 4-1 five days later at Ball Arena.
- Dallas is 66-64-20 all-time vs. Colorado, including a 41-22-12 mark at home.
- Forward Jason Robertson leads the Stars with three points (2-1—3) in two games against the Avs this season. He enters today’s game averaging better than a point a game vs. Colorado with six points (3-3—6) in five career contests.
- Forward Joe Pavelski leads active Stars in goals (19), co-leads in points (19-23—42) and ranks third in assists (23) in 51 career games vs. the Avalanche. Pavelski also paces the club in power-play goals (11), game winners (4) and shots on goal (155).
- Among active Stars, captain Jamie Benn shares first in points (13-29—42), ranks second in assists (29) and third in goals (13) in 52 career contests against Colorado.
- Forward Tyler Seguin ranks second in goals (18) and fourth in assists (21) and points (18-21—39) in 36 career contests vs. the Avs.
- Forward Roope Hintz enters today’s game with seven points (2-5—7) in 11 career games vs. Colorado.
- Defenseman Ryan Suter leads active Stars in assists (36) and ranks third in points (5-36—41) in a team-high 78 career games against the Avs.
- Goaltender Jake Oettinger is 2-0-1 with a 1.36 goals-against average and .965 save percentage in three career appearances vs. Colorado.
- Netminder Scott Wedgewood is 1-1-0 with a 3.58 GAA and .894 SV% in three career appearances vs. the Avalanche.
2022-23 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
Nov. 21, 2022 vs. Colorado – L, 3-2 (shootout)
Nov. 26, 2022 at Colorado – L, 4-1
March 4 vs. Colorado
April 1 at Colorado
