COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Wed, Feb. 15 at Minnesota 7:30 p.m. TNT 950 AM
Sat, Feb. 18 at St. Louis Noon Altitude / NHLN 92.5 FM
Sun, Feb. 19 EDMONTON 1 p.m. ESPN+, HULU / SNet 92.5 FM
Fri, Feb. 24 at Winnipeg 6 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Sat, Feb. 25 CALGARY 8 p.m. Altitude, CBC 950 AM
Mon, Feb. 27 VEGAS 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO @ MINNESOTA
7:52 p.m. MT / 8:52 p.m. CT
TNT / 92.5 FM
The Avalanche travels to Minnesota to face the Wild tonight at Xcel Energy Center … This evening is the second half of a back-to-back for the Avs, who fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Lightning last night in Denver … Colorado is in a stretch of three consecutive back-to-backs … All three back-to-backs will require travel in between (either home/road or road/home) and all three opponents on the second half of the back-to-back will be waiting for the Avs … The Avs are 8-2-2 in their last 12.
ON THE CALL
TNT: Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, Keith Jones
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey
LAST GAME
Feb. 14 – Tampa Bay 4, Colorado 3 in shootout
Steven Stamkos scored the only goal of the shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena … Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and one assist and Artturi Lehkonen and Denis Malgin also scored for the Avs … Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 43 of Colorado’s 46 shots SF: 46 SA: 35 PP: 0-2 PK: 4-4
The Avs are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games The Avalanche had 46 shots after recording a season-high 50 on Saturday in Florida … This marks just the second time in franchise history that Colorado/Quebec has fired 46+ shots in consecutive games … They also did it Mar. 10-12, 2021 (46 vs. Arizona and 46 vs. Los Angeles) MacKinnon reached the 60-point mark, the seventh time in his career that he’s surpassed 60 points … That trails only Joe Sakic (17x), Peter Stastny (10x), Michel Goulet (9x) and Anton Stastny (8x) for the most 60-point campaigns in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history MacKinnon has an eight-game home point streak Devon Toews logged a season-high 30:04 of ice time, the third time in his career he’s gone over 30 minutes in a game
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)
Cale Makar – head (Feb. 9 – present)
Josh Manson – lower body (Dec. 3 – present)
Total: 297 (3rd in NHL)
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Feb. 14 – Brad Hunt, Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Erik Johnson placed on Injured Reserve (retroactive to Feb. 11) … Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 13 – Jonas Johansson recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 12 – Brad Hunt cleared waivers and was reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 11 – Brad Hunt placed on waivers
Feb. 7 – Bowen Byram activated from Injured Reserve
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – MINNESOTA WILD
Tonight is the second of three meetings between the Avalanche and Wild and the second of two in St. Paul … The Avalanche won the first matchup 6-3 here at Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 17 …. The Wild and Blackhawks are the only two divisional opponents who will play the Avalanche three times instead of four.
SCHEDULE vs. WILD
Oct. 17 @ Minnesota (W, 6-3)
Feb. 15 @ Minnesota
Mar. 29 vs. MINNESOTA
RECORD vs. WILD
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME PLAYOFFS
Overall: 1-0-0 Overall: 2-1-1 Overall: 58-46-15 Series: 3 (1-2)
Home: — Home: 2-0-0 Home: 32-23-4 Record: 10-10
Road: 1-0-0 Road: 0-1-1 Road: 26-23-11 2003 CQF (L, 3-4), 2008 CQF (W, 4-2), 2014 R1 (L, 3-4)
2022-23 SEASON NOTES
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight ends the first of what will be three consecutive back-to-back sets for the Avalanche … All three back-to-backs will require travel in between (either home/road or road/home) and all three opponents on the second half of the back-to-back will be waiting for the Avs … Colorado, which will play 13 back-to-back contests overall this year, owns a 3-2-1 record in the first game and 3-2-0 in the second … 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 (.773), with only Tampa (10-0-2, .917) posting a better record in the second half of a back-to-back.
MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES
COLORADO AVALANCHE
All-Time Wild Record: 58-48-12 (33-21-5 at Xcel Energy Center, 25-27-7 at Colorado)
2022-23: Colorado earned a 6-3 victory in St. Paul in the series-opening game (10/17)…D Calen Addison led Minnesota with three points (0-3=3)…LW Kirill Kaprizov (2-0=2) and C Joel Eriksson Ek (1-0=1) both scored goals for the Wild…G Filip Gustavsson stopped 32 of 37 shots faced for the Wild…RW Valeri Nichushkin (1-2=3) and C Nathan MacKinnon (1-2=3) each posted three points to lead the Avalanche…D Cale Makar (0-2=2) and D Samuel Girard (0-2=2) recorded multi-point performances…G Alexander Georgiev stopped 36 of 39 shots faced for the Avalanche.
WILD LEADERS: RW Mats Zuccarello leads Minnesota with 24 points (5-19=24) in 24 matches against Colorado…D Alex Goligoski has 21 points (4-17=21) in 42 games…D Jared Spurgeon owns 20 points (5- 15=20) in 56 contests…C Ryan Hartman owns 16 points (9-7=16) in 30 contests.
WILD GOALIES: G Marc-Andre Fleury is 16-11-3 with a 2.51 GAA, a .916 SV% and three shutouts in 31 career games (30 starts) against Colorado…Gustavsson is 0-2-0 with a 5.72 GAA and a .856 SV% in two starts against Colorado.
AVALANCHE LEADERS: MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 47 points (16-31=47) in 41 games against Minnesota…RW Mikko Rantanen has 35 points (14-21=35) in 29 contests…D Cale Makar owns 17 points (4- 13=15) in 16 matches…C Andrew Cogliano has 17 points (6-11=17) in 61 games.
AVALANCHE GOALIES: G Pavel Francouz 2-2-0 with a 3.39 GAA and a .897 SV% in four games (three starts) vs. Minnesota…Georgiev is 2-2-0 with a 3.69 GAA and a .885 SV% in four starts.
FAST FACTS: Minnesota has 58 wins and 128 points against Colorado all-time, second-most against any franchise…The Wild is 21-17-2 against the Avalanche in the last 40 matches, including six shutout victories…The Wild’s three shutouts against Colorado during the 2014-15 campaign marked the second time in franchise history it recorded at least three shutouts against the same opponent in a season (2006-07 vs.
Edmonton)…Minnesota defeated Colorado in seven games in the 2003 First Round and the 2014 First Round …The Avalanche won the 2008 First Round series in six games.
HOME SWEET HOME
• Dating back to Nov. 19th, Minnesota is 14-4-1 at home for a .763 point percentage, the third-best rate in the NHL during that span.
• The Wild recorded an seven-game home win streak from Nov. 27 – Dec. 18, the fourth-longest home win streak in the NHL this season.
• Minnesota is tied for sixth in the NHL with 16 home victories this season and ranks tied for ninth with a .630 point percentage at home.
• In home games since Nov. 19, the Wild is recording a 2.21 goals against average (GAA) and .922 save percentage (SV%). Since Nov. 19, Minnesota ranks second in the NHL in home GAA and third in home SV%.
ON THE POWER PLAY
• The Wild have converted 28.9 percent (24 of 83) of power-play opportunities at home this season, fifth-best in the NHL.
• Minnesota recorded a power-play goal in a season-high six consecutive games from Nov. 23 – Dec. 4, going eight-for-19 (42.1 pct.) during that span. The streak tied for the fifth-longest in franchise history.
PENALTY KILLERS
• Since Nov. 8, Minnesota is sixth in the NHL with a 82.8 penalty-kill percentage (120 for 145).
• Minnesota is fifth in the NHL with a 82.1 penalty-kill percentage (78 of 95) on the road this season.
SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
• Minnesota is fourth in the NHL with eight shorthanded goals this season.
• The total is tied for the highest in franchise history through a season’s first 53 games (eight SHG in 2001-02 and 2006-07 seasons).
• Minnesota has not eclipsed eight shorthanded goals in season since recording nine during the 2008-09 campaign.
