COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – ANAHEIM DUCKS
The Avalanche and Ducks meet for the second time this season and the one and only time in Southern California…The Avs won the first matchup 8-2 on Nov. 15 at Ball Arena…The eight goals matched Colorado’s largest output ever against the Ducks (8-4 win on March 16, 2021 in Denver)…Colorado is 10-1-0 in its last 11 meetings against Anaheim and 11-1-1 in its last 13 matchups…Colorado has won its last five visits to the Honda Center and is 7-1-0 in its last eight trips to Anaheim.
CURRENT INJURIES (full list at end of notes)
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)
Chris Wagner – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Man-Games Lost: 112
RECENT TRANSACTIONS (full list at end of notes)
Nov. 29 – Sam Malinski recalled from Colorado (AHL)
ONE MONTH AT A TIME
The Avs finished 9-4-1 in November, the 30th consecutive month that Colorado has not posted a “losing month” (meaning the club had a .500 or better record in that particular month)…It’s the longest such streak in franchise history, topping the previous mark of 26 straight months from March 1994 to February 1998…This current run, which began in February 2019, is the third-longest active streak in the NHL and the seventh longest in league history…Twenty eight (28) of these last 30 months for the Avalanche featured a winning record, as only October 2021 (4-4-0) and October 2022 (4-4-1) did not.
NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
The Avalanche finished 9-4-1 in November, matching their most November wins in franchise history (9-3-2-1 in 2003 and 9-5-0 in 2013)…The nine victories tied for second in the NHL behind only Florida (10).
PLENTY OF ROOM AT THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA
The Avalanche have won 13 consecutive games here in the State of California…That included a pair of wins over Los Angeles and San Jose to open the 2023-24 campaign back in October…This weekend’s Southern California back-toback will be Colorado’s final two contests in the Golden State this season…Over the last four-plus seasons (since 2019-20), the Avalanche are 22-5-0 in California, going 8-2- 0 in Los Angeles, 7-2-0 in San Jose and 7-1-0 in Anaheim.
BACK-TO-BACK
The Avalanche are playing back-to-back games for the second time this season, as they face the Ducks tonight before taking on the Kings tomorrow night in Los Angeles…The Avs swept their first back-to-back last weekend against Minnesota and Calgary, the club’s fifth consecutive back-to-back sweep going back to last season…Colorado will play a total of eight back-to-back contests in 2023-24, tied for its fewest ever since relocating to Denver (also 2008-09)…The Avalanche played 13 last year, going a combined 19-5-2 (.769) in those contests, second in the NHL behind only Boston (23-3-2, .857)…Colorado finished 9-3-1 in the first game and was a league-best 10-2-1 (.806) in the second contest.
PACIFIC HEIGHTS
The Avalanche are 7-2-0 against Pacific Division teams this season, 3-1-0 at home and 4-1-0 on the road.
VIEW TO A KILL
Colorado ranks fifth in the league in penalty killing at 87.2% (75/86)…The Avs have given up only three power-play goals in the last nine games, killing 29-of-32 (90.6%)…The Avalanche began the campaign with 19 consecutive kills, their longest streak to start a season in franchise history.
HOW ABOUT THE POWER PLAY
The Avalanche have scored a power-play goal in nine consecutive games…It’s the club’s longest streak with a PPG since the 2021-22 season, when the Avs had both a 10- game and nine-game run with a power-play marker…The Avs are 11-for-40 (27.5%) during this recent stretch…For the year, Colorado ranks 12th in the NHL at 21.4% (19-89)
SHORT AND TO THE POINT
The Avalanche have scored five shorthanded goals, tied for third in the league…Individually, Logan O’Connor is tied for first in the NHL with three shorthanded tallies, while Cale Makar is tied for first with three shorthanded assists.
SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT
Including tonight, the Avs will play on a Saturday for eight consecutive weeks from Nov. 4–Dec. 23…Colorado is 4-2-0 on Saturday…The Avs finished 17-4-0 (.810) on Saturdays last year, the most wins of any team in the NHL…Colorado’s .810 winning percentage on Saturday trailed only Boston (16-2-2, .850).
THE DEFENSE RESTS
Colorado’s defensemen have combined for 16 goals and 64 points this season, both second best among all NHL clubs…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 2015-16 to 2017- 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 Detroit Red Wings from 1993-94 to 1995-96.
ANAHEIM DUCKS NOTES:
INJURIES PLAYER INJURY / ILLNESS EXPECTED TIME MISSED GAMES MISSED
Trevor Zegras Lower-body Day-to-day 11
Jamie Drysdale Lower-body Day-to-day 21
Isac Lundestrom Torn Achilles Approximately 6 months 23
2023-24 Man Games Lost: 86
TONIGHT’S GAME:
The Anaheim Ducks open their December schedule and conclude a two-game homestand tonight with the first contest of a home-and-home matchups vs. Colorado Avalanche at Honda Cener (7 p.m. PT, TV: Bally Sports SoCal, AUDIO: Ducks Stream). The Ducks’ 13-game December schedule includes seven home and six road contests. Potential milestones tonight include John Gibson one appearance from surpassing Jean-Sebastien Giguere (447) for the most games played by a goaltender in Ducks history and Alex Killorn one goal from 200 NHL goals. Following tonight’s game, the Ducks will embark on a two-game road trip beginning Tuesday, Dec. 5 at Colorado (6 p.m. PT) and concluding Thursday, Dec. 7 at Chicago (5:30 p.m. PT).
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT:
The Ducks have the most 20-and-under players in the NHL this season (4). The four players (Carlsson, Luneau, McTavish, Mintyukov) have combined for 18-28=45 points this season, the most combined points and goals of any team with players 20-and-under this season (Chicago, 25 and Columbus, 24). Anaheim has the highest-scoring 20-and-under forward and defenseman among players 20-and-under. Mason McTavish (20) leads all NHL players 20-and-under in points (10-11=21), the only player 20-and-under to rank in the top-50 of league scoring. Pavel Mintyukov (20) co-leads all defensemen 20-and-younger in assists (1-11=12) and is second in points. Leo Carlsson (18) ranks fourth among 20-and-under players in goals (6) and ninth with 6-4=10 points. Tristan Luneau (19) recorded his first career NHL goals and multi-point game Nov. 30 vs. WSH (1-1=2).
YOUNG GUNS:
Anaheim became the first team in nearly 12 years and the third in 30 years to have four different players 20-and-under record a point in the same game Nov. 22 vs. MTL. Tristan Luneau (19, first NHL point with an assist), Leo Carlsson (18, assist), Mason McTavish (20, two goals, one assist) and Pavel Mintyukov (19, assist) had points tonight. The last team to do so was the 2011-12 Colorado Avalanche (R. O’Reilly, M. Duchene, S. Elliott and G. Landeskog). They did so twice in the same season, on Nov. 30, 2011 vs, NJD & Dec. 23, 2011 vs. TBL. The Winnipeg Jets did so in 1995-96 (S. Doan, D. Quint, C. Mills and L. Doig) and the Ottawa Senators in 1994-95 (A. Daigle, P. Demitra, R. Bonk and S. Neckar).
DUCKS-AVALANCHE:
Anaheim and Colorado continue their season series tonight with the second of three games and the lone contest at Honda Center. Tonight’s contest is the second of three games in a 20-day span of the entire three-game season series. The Ducks have points in eight of their last 13 home contests vs. the Avalanche (5-5-3) and own a 48-45-9 all-time record with a 25-21-8 mark in Orange County. In their first contest of 2023-24 the Ducks fell to the Avalanche 8-2 Nov. 15 at Ball Arena. Max Jones and Sam Carrick tallied Anaheim’s two goals in the matchup. 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. The two teams close out the season series Dec. 5 at Ball Arena (6 p.m. PT).
ANAHEIM-COLORADO ALL-TIME SERIES
OVERALL @ ANAHEIM @ COLORADO
All-Time Series 48-45-16 25-21-8 23-24-8
Current Streak Three COL wins Five COL wins One COL win
Last ANA Win Jan. 26, 2023 (5-3) Jan. 24, 2021 (3-1) Jan. 26, 2023 (5-3)
Last COL Win Nov. 15, 2023 (8-2) Apr. 9, 2023 (5-4 OT) Nov. 15, 2023 (8-2)
ANA Last 10 1-9-0 2-5-3 4-5-1
