COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Tue, Feb. 7 at Pittsburgh 5 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Thu, Feb. 9 at Tampa Bay 5 p.m. ESPN 92.5 FM
Sat, Feb. 11 at Florida 4 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO @ PITTSBURGH
5:08 p.m. MT / 7:08 p.m. ET
Altitude / 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche returns from their All-Star Break/Bye Week as they open a three-game road trip tonight in Pittsburgh against the Penguins … This evening’s matchup is Colorado’s first game since Jan. 28, some nine days ago … The Avs were off seven full days before resuming practice this past Sunday … The club’s next home date will be on Valentine’s Day, a span of 17 days without a home game … The Avalanche entered the break going 7-1-0 in their last eight contests… The Avs have won three straight on the road … The club will head south next to play Tampa Bay on Thursday and the Panthers in Sunrise on Saturday to wrap up the road swing.
ON THE CALL
Altitude TV: Marc Moser (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst), Katie Gaus (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey
LAST GAME
Jan. 28 – Colorado 4, St. Louis 2 at Ball Arena
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues, 4-2, in the final game before the All-Star Break/Bye Week at Ball Arena… Alex Newhook, J.T. Compher, Evan Rodrigues and Matt Nieto scored for the Avs, while Logan O’Connor had two assists … Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves for his 20th win of the season.
SF: 31 SA: 28 PP: 0-2 PK: 1-2
The Avs entered the break going 7-1-0 in their last eight games Colorado improved to 3-0-0 in day games this season, 2-0-0 at home … The Avs are 16-3-1 (.825) in afternoon contests since 2019-20, the second highest points percentage in day games during that span behind Carolina (20-3-3, .827) The Avs are 10-3-0 on Saturdays, tied with Tampa Bay (10-2-0) for the most wins on Saturdays this year Georgiev won his fourth straight start – tying a season high – and reached the 20-win mark for the first time in his NHL career Newhook scored on his 22nd birthday, the second straight year that he’s lit the lamp on his birthday … He’s the first player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to score on his birthday in consecutive years Newhook has five goals in his last eight games, with those five goals setting a career high a single month … He ranks fifth on the club with 12 goals, one shy of his rookie season total from a year ago MacKinnon finished with 20 points (5g/15a) in January, tied for fourth in the NHL …. His 15 assists during the month tied for the league lead … January marked his seventh career 20-point month O’Connor notched his third career multi-assist game, all of which have taken place in the last 14 days … He set a career high for a single month with six points (0g/6a)
CURRENT INJURIES
Darren Helm – lower body (8 games, Jan. 14 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – lower body (all season, Oct. 12 – present)
Josh Manson – lower body (27 games, Dec. 3 – present)
Total: 280 (3rd in NHL)
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Jan. 28 – Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Tonight is the first of two meetings between the Avalanche and Penguins, as Pittsburgh is one of three teams who has yet to face Colorado in 2022-23 (San Jose and Tampa Bay are the others, and the Avs will face Tampa in their next game on Thursday) …. Colorado swept the season series a year ago.
SCHEDULE vs. PENGUINS
Feb. 7 @ Pittsburgh
Mar. 22 vs. PITTSBURGH
RECORD vs. PENGUINS
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: — Overall: 2-0-0 Overall: 44-36-12 Overall: 22-9-8 Series: None
Home: — Home: 1-0-0 Home: 23-16-5 Home: 10-4-5
Road: — Road: 1-0-0 Road: 21-20-7 Road: 12-5-3
2022-23 SEASON NOTES
ONE MONTH AT A TIME
The Avalanche finished 8-5-0 in January, the 25th consecutive month that Colorado has posted a .500 or better record dating back to February 2019 … And 23 of those 25 months featured a winning record, as only October 2021 (4-4-0) and October 2022 (4-4-1) did not … The 25 straight months with a .500 record or better is one shy of the franchise mark set by Quebec/Colorado (26) from March 1994 to February 1998 … This is the third-longest active streak in the league, as the Bruins have a current run of 29 straight months with a .500 or better record and the Carolina Hurricanes have an active streak of 26 months.
ROAD WARRIORS
Colorado’s next road win will mark its 700th regular season away victory in franchise history (699-778-123-83) … The Avalanche’s 4-1 victory in Calgary on Jan. 18 was their 500th regular-season road win since moving to Denver … Colorado is 502-424-46-83 in 1,055 away contests since relocating from Quebec … Only Boston (now 513) has more away wins during that time span.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS NOTES:
LAST 2 GAMES
Jan. 28: San Jose 6, Pittsburgh 4 – PPG Paints Arena
PIT Goals: Malkin (2), Crosby, Poehling
Multiple Points: Malkin (2G-1A), Crosby (1G-1A)
Goalie: DeSmith (26 saves, 31 shots)
Key Stats: Evgeni Malkin recorded his fifth three-point game (2G-1A) as Pittsburgh fell in the final game before the bye week.
PP: 2-4
PK: 2-2
Jan. 26: Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2 (OT) – Capital One
Arena
PIT Goals: Heinen, Rust
Multiple Points: None
Goalie: DeSmith (43 saves, 45 shots)
Key Stats: Bryan Rust’s game-tying goal to force overtime made him the 20th member of his draft class to 300 points.
PP: 0-1
PK: 2-3
INJURIES
Position Player Status Consecutive Games Missed Total Games Missed
F Josh Archibald Lower-Body 18 19
D Jan Rutta Upper-Body 7 7
F Kasperi Kapanen Lower-Body 5 5
G Tristan Jarry Upper-Body 3 10
2022-23 Total Regular-Season Man-Games Lost: 123
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Date Transaction
Feb. 4 G Dustin Tokarski recalled from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL).
Jan. 29 F Jonathan Gruden and G Dustin Tokarski re-assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL).
Jan. 25 G Dustin Tokarski recalled from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL).
Jan. 25 D Ty Smith re-assigned to WBS.
Pittsburgh’s All-Time Record vs. Avalanche: 41-42-9
In Pittsburgh: 22-20-6
In Colorado: 19-22-3
OT Record vs. Avalanche: 6-4-6
Shootout Record vs. Avalanche: 1-0
2021-22 Results: Pittsburgh went 0-2-0.
Penguins All-Time Point Leaders vs. AVALANCHE:
Mario Lemieux – 33GP, 66 PTS (30G-36A)
Jaromir Jagr – 28GP, 36 PTS (18G-18A)
Kevin Stevens – 19GP, 31 PTS (16G-15A)
TONIGHT’S GAME
- The Penguins return from the All-Star Break to take on the Colorado Avalanche at PPG Paints Arena (TV: AT&T SportsNet; Radio: 105.9 The X).
- The Penguins have points in nine of their last 15 games against the Avalanche (8-6-1) dating back to Apr. 6, 2014.
- Pittsburgh has points in five of its last seven games here at PPG Paints Arena versus Colorado (4-2-1).
- Pittsburgh is 8-3-0 against Western Conference opponents at home this season.
QUICK HITS
1) The Penguins are currently 7-1-0 versus Central Division opponents for the 2022-23 campaign.
2) Jake Guentzel enters tonight’s game with a five-game point streak (3G-4A) versus the Avalanche dating back to November 28, 2018. Guentzel has been held off the score sheet just twice in his eight games versus Colorado.
3) Evgeni Malkin recorded his 14th career 50-point campaign. Only Alex Ovechkin (17), Sidney Crosby (16), Patrick Kane (15) and Anze Kopitar (15) have more seasons with 50-plus points among active players.
4) Goaltender Casey DeSmith is 1-0-0 in his career versus the Avalanche, making 42 saves on 45 shots in his sole matchup versus Colorado on December 4, 2018. His 42 saves are fourth highest in his career.
5) Ryan Poehling recorded his second shorthanded goal of the season on January 28th versus the Sharks, tying him with Brock McGinn for the team lead in shorthanded goals this season.
HOME COOKIN’
Pittsburgh enters tonight’s game with points in 13 of its last 16 home games (10-3-3), and 18 of 24 games at PPG Paints Arena this season (14- 6-4). The Penguins .667 points percentage at home is tied for seventh-best in the NHL, and the team ranks in the top-10 in multiple categories at home:
