ANAHEIM DUCKS NOTES:
INJURIES
PLAYER INJURY / ILLNESS EXPECTED TIME MISSED GAMES MISSED
Trevor Zegras Lower-body Day-to-day 12
Jamie Drysdale Lower-body Day-to-day 22
Isac Lundestrom Torn Achilles Approximately 6 months 24
2023-24 Man Games Lost: 89
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Anaheim Ducks open a two-game road trip tonight with the second contest of a home-and-home matchups vs. Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena (6 p.m. PT, TV: Bally Sports SoCal, AUDIO: Ducks Stream). Tonight begins a stretch for Anaheim with six of the next seven games away from home, with a single home contest over a 14-day span from Dec. 5-18. The Ducks continue their 13-game December schedule (second contest), which includes seven home and six road contests. Following tonight’s game, the Ducks will conclude the two-game road trip beginning Thursday, Dec. 7 at Chicago (5:30 p.m. PT) in the first meeting between top-2 selections Leo Carlsson (second overall) and Connor Bedard (first overall).
DUCKS-AVALANCHE: Anaheim and Colorado conclude their three-game season series tonight with the second game of a home-athome matchup at Ball Arena. Tonight’s contest is the third and final of three games in a 20-day span of the entire three-game season series. The Ducks own a 49-45-9 all-time record vs. the Avalanche with a 23-24-8 mark in Denver. The teams have split the first two game of the season series, with Anaheim picking up a 4-3 shootout victory win three nights ago at Honda Center (Dec. 2). Leo Carlsson tallied the game-deciding goal in the shootout and recorded his third multi-point effort (2-1=3), while Alex Killorn and Adam Henrique recorded the Ducks additional goals. Colorado earned an 8-2 win Nov. 15 at Ball Arena in the series opener. Troy Terry has seven points through his last seven road contests in his hometown in Denver (4-3=7). Jakob Silfverberg (10-11=21 in 36 GP) paces active Ducks skaters in career scoring and goals vs. the Avalanche while Cam Fowler (6-14=20 in 42 GP) leads in assists. John Gibson has posted a 10-9-2 record in 23 career appearances (all starts) vs. Colorado, earning a 2.44 GAA and .926 SV%.
COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
COLORADO AVALANCHE (15-7-2, 32 points) vs. ANAHEIM DUCKS (10-14-0, 20 points)
7:08 p.m. Ball Arena – Denver, Colorado Altitude / 92.5
The Colorado Avalanche opens a five-game homestand tonight against the Anaheim Ducks at Ball Arena…This is one of two five-game homestands on the 2023-24 schedule (also March 22-30), which marks the club’s longest homestands of the season…This current homestand will include visits from the Ducks, Winnipeg Jets, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres…December is the Colorado’s busiest month of the season, as the Avs will play 15 games this month.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – ANAHEIM DUCKS
The Avalanche and Ducks wrap up the season series with the third and final meeting of 2023-24…Colorado and Anaheim are meeting for the second time in four days as they faced off this past Saturday night at Honda Center (4- 3 Ducks win in a shootout)…The Avs won the first matchup 8-2 on Nov. 15 here at Ball Arena, with the eight goals matching Colorado’s largest output ever against the Ducks (8-4 on March 16, 2021 in Denver)…Colorado is 10-1-1 in its last 12 meetings against Anaheim and 11-1-2 in its last 14 matchups…Prior to Saturday’s shootout loss, Colorado had won its previous five visits to the Honda Center…The Avs are still 7-1-1 in their last nine trips to Anaheim.
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Jean-Luc Foudy – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – knee (Oct. 11 – present)
Artturi Lehkonen – upper body (Nov. 11 – present)
Cale Makar – lower body (Dec. 3 – present)
Chris Wagner – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Man-Games Lost: 123
RECENT TRANSACTIONS (full list at end of notes)
Dec. 5 – Oskar Olausson recalled from Colorado (AHL)
PACIFIC HEIGHTS
The Avalanche are 7-3-1 against Pacific Division teams this season, 3-1-0 at home
THE DEFENSE RESTS
Colorado’s defensemen have combined for 20 goals, tied with Montreal for the most of any blueline…The Avalanche’s 69 points from defensemen rank second in the league behind only Vancouver (82)…Each of Colorado’s last four goals have been scored by defensemen and six of the club’s last nine…The Avalanche have led all teams in points from the blueline in each of the last three seasons heading into this year…The last club to rank first in defensive scoring for three straight seasons was Nashville from 2015-18…However, the Predators tied for first in two of those three years…Thus, Colorado is the first club to lead all teams in blueline scoring outright for three straight years since the Red Wings from 1993-94 to 1995-96.
