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NHL Preview: Colorado Avalanche (27-18-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning (32-16-2)

COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:

UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
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
Tue, Feb. 14 TAMPA BAY 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Wed, Feb. 15 at Minnesota 7:30 p.m. TNT 950 AM

TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO @ TAMPA BAY
5:10 p.m. MT / 7:10 p.m. ET
ESPN / 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning face off for the first time since the 2022 Stanley Cup Final tonight at AMALIE Arena … This evening’s matchup is the middle contest of a three-game road trip for the Avs, who fell 2-1 in overtime to the Penguins on Tuesday … Colorado will wrap up the road swing on Saturday night in Sunrise against the Panthers… The Avs are 7-1-1 in their last nine games and 3-0-1 in their last four on the road.

ON THE CALL
ESPN: Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Ray Ferraro (analyst), Emily Kaplan (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst)

LAST GAME
Feb. 7 – Pittsburgh 2, Colorado 1 in overtime at PPG Paints Arena
Bryan Rust scored the tying goal with 3:38 left in regulation and Kris Letang notched the game winner in overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Colorado Avalanche, 2-1, at PPG Paints Arena … Nathan MacKinnon had the lone tally for the Avs and Pavel Francouz made 36 saves.
SF: 42 SA: 38 PP: 0-4 PK: 1-1

The Avs are 7-1-1 in their last nine games
Samuel Girard had an assist to extend his point streak to four games, the longest streak of his career
MacKinnon has a four-game point streak (1g/3a) and has 21 points (6g/15a) in 14 games since January 1st
MacKinnon scored his 51st career game-opening goal and surpassed Peter Stastny (50) for the fourth most in
Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history … MacKinnon trails Joe Sakic (117), Milan Hejduk (66) and Michel Goulet (53)

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: 283 (3rd in NHL)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Feb. 7 – Bowen Byram activated from Injured Reserve
Jan. 28 – Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)

TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Tonight is the first meeting between these two teams since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final here at AMALIE Arena on June 26, 2022 … This is the first of two matchups between Colorado and Tampa Bay this season, which leaves San Jose as the only team who has yet to face the Avalanche in 2022-23 … In addition to winning the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, the Avs beat the Lightning twice during the 2021-22 regular season, sweeping the season series for the first time since 2009-10.

SCHEDULE vs. LIGHTNING
Feb. 9 @ Tampa Bay
Feb. 14 vs. TAMPA BAY

RECORD vs. LIGHTNING
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: — Overall: 2-0-0 Overall: 25-18-6 Overall: 20-13-6 Series: 1 (1-0)
Home: — Home: 1-0-0 Home: 15-6-4 Home: 11-5-4 Record: 4-2
Road: — Road: 1-0-0 Road: 10-12-2 Road: 9-8-2 Last: 2022 Cup Final (W, 4-2)

ROAD WARRIORS
Colorado’s next road win will mark its 700th regular season away victory in franchise history (699-778-207) … The Avalanche’s 4-1 victory in Calgary on Jan. 18 was their 500th regular-season road win since moving to Denver … Colorado is 502-424-130 in 1,056 away contests since relocating … Only Boston (513) has more away wins during that span.

GRAND CENTRAL
Colorado is 9-4-1 against Central Division teams this season, 5-1-1 at home.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:

LAST GAME
Lightning 3 vs. San Jose 4 (OT)
The Tampa Bay Lightning saw its franchise record 12-game home winning streak come to an end Tuesday night with a 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts fell to 32-16-2 on the season with a home record of 20-4-2…Ross Colton opened the scoring 2:10 into the first period when Zach Bogosian pinched up the right boards and found Colton in front, who took advantage of a failed attempt to play the puck by Kaapo Kahkonen and buried his 11th goal of the season to give Tampa Bay an early 1-0 lead…Erik Karlsson scored a power-play goal at the 6:28 mark of the first to even the score at one apiece…Just 2:53 after Karlsson’s goal, the Lightning earned a power-play opportunity of their own and took a 2-1 lead when Brayden Point took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and rifled a wrist shot into the top left corner for his 30th goal of the season with Victor Hedman adding a secondary helper…Point scored his second goal of the game and made it a 3-1 game with 3:16 left in the opening frame after batting the puck out of midair and sliding a shot past the left pad of Kahkonen with Mikhail Sergachev and Kucherov picking up the assists…Timo Meier scored the lone goal of the second period with a power-play tally at the 16:23 mark to get SJS back within one going into the second intermission…Jonah Gadjovich tied the game at three just 3:08 into the third period before Meier scored his second goal of the contest at the 2:19 mark of overtime to give SJS the 4-3 win…Brian Elliott got the start in goal for Tampa Bay and made 18 saves on 22 shots against…Vladislav Namestnikov skated in his 600th career game.
PP: TBL – 1-6 SJS – 2-3
SOG: TBL – 37 SJS – 22
Attendance: 19,092

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Avalanche are playing the first of two matchups this season and the only meeting at AMALIE Arena…The two teams will meet again in just five days with a matchup Feb. 14 at COL…The Bolts posted a record of 0-1-1 in two reg. season contests vs. COL last season…Brayden Point (2-1—3) led Tampa Bay in goals and points vs. COL last season…The Lightning are 5-4-1 in the last 10 home games vs. COL and 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings overall…Steven Stamkos has picked up points in six of his last 10 games vs. COL (7-6—13)…Stamkos has recorded nine points over his last four home games vs. COL (4-5—9)…Nikita Kucherov has scored a goal in two consecutive games vs. COL (2-0—2) and has picked up points in five of the last six meetings (4-2—6)…Point has recorded points in three consecutive games vs. COL (2-2—4) and seven of the last nine meetings (4-4—8)…Alex Killorn has pointed in 12 of his 16 career games vs. COL (4-8—12)…Victor Hedman has picked up points in three consecutive home games vs. COL (1-2—3)…The Bolts are 16-15-5 with three ties all-time vs. COL, including a home record of 9-6-3 with one tie…Stamkos (8-7—15) holds the Tampa Bay franchise records for career goals and points vs. COL.

TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. COL

  1. Steven Stamkos – 15 pts. (8-7—15, 19 GP)
  2. Victor Hedman – 14 pts. (2-12—14, 20 GP)
    T3. Tyler Johnson – 12 pts. (6-6—12, 14 GP)
    T3. Alex Killorn – 12 pts. (4-8—12, 16 GP)
    T5. Ondrej Palat – 11 pts. (4-7—11, 16 GP)
    T5. Martin St. Louis – 11 pts. (2-9—11, 16 GP)

TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the second game of a brief, two-game homestand tonight…The Bolts will play just five of their 12 games in February on home ice…The Lightning are 8-2-0 against Central Division opponents and 16-6-1 against the Western Conference this season…The Bolts are 20-4-2 on home ice this season…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in seven consecutive home games and 18 of the last 20 contests at AMALIE Arena…The Lightning have scored a power-play goal in six of the last seven home games.

INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 91
Current Injuries:
None

TRANSACTIONS
Jan. 30 – Recalled D Nick Perbix from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 30 – Re-assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 29 – Assigned D Nick Perbix to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 29 – Recalled F Rudolfs Balcers from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 15 – Assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse for conditioning
Jan. 2 – Signed D Nick Perbix to a two-year contract extension

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