COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO AVALANCHE (7-2-0) at VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (10-0-1)
8 p.m. MT / 7 p.m. PT
T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas, Nevada
Altitude / AM 950
The Colorado Avalanche travels to Las Vegas to face the Golden Knights tonight at T-Mobile Arena…The Avs are in a stretch that has them playing only three games in 11 days from Oct. 27–Nov. 6…This is a quick one-game trip for the club, who will return to Denver tonight and begin a threegame homestand on Tuesday.
QUICK NOTES
The Avalanche (7-2-0) will try and win eight of their first 10 games for the sixth time in franchise history. Mikko Rantanen is one shy of 500 career games. Alexandar Georgiev and Ross Colton are both one shy of 200 career NHL games. Bowen Byram scored a goal on Wednesday against St. Louis in what was his 100th NHL game. The Avalanche have allowed only two power-play goals in 36 shorthanded situations (94.4%), second best in the NHL heading into the weekend Colorado is 4-2-0 on the road, tied for the third-most away wins in the NHL The Avs are 3-0-0 at Ball Arena, their best home start since 2019-20 (4-0-0)…Colorado and Carolina (also 3- 0-0) are the only unbeaten teams on home ice
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – VEGAS
Tonight is the first of three meetings between the Avalanche and Golden Knights, and the first of two at TMobile Arena…Colorado has won its last four regularseason trips to Nevada.
SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT
Colorado is 2-0-0 on Saturday this season…The Avalanche 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).
GRAND CENTRAL
The Avalanche are 2-0-0 against Central Division opponents this season…Colorado finished 19-6-1 against its division rivals last year, 10-2-1 at home and 9-4-0 on the road…The 19 wins tied Carolina (19-6-1 vs. Metropolitan) and Edmonton (19-6-1 vs. Pacific) for the most divisional victories in the NHL.
JUST CAN’T WAIT TO GET ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Avalanche won 15 consecutive regular-season road games from March 13, 2023 to Oct. 24, 2023, the longest streak in NHL history…The streak, which included wins in the final 11 away games last season and the first four this season, topped the previous record of 14 straight road wins by the Buffalo Sabres in 2006.
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS NOTES:
LAST GAME RECAP – VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, WINNIPEG JETS 2
Jonathan Marchessault notched the fourth hat trick of his career as the Vegas Golden Knights (10-0-1) defeated the Winnipeg Jets (4- 4-2), 5-2 on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena. William Karlsson scored the only goal of the first period, extending his point streak to eight games, a new career-high for the centerman. At the start of the middle frame, Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor tied things up at 1-1 at the 6:17 mark. Just 13 seconds later, Mason Appleton was sent to the box with a high-sticking double minor, awarding the Golden Knights with a four-minute man advantage. 45 seconds into the first power play, Marchessault scored his first goal of the night to help Vegas regain the lead at 2-1. Before the second man advantage could expire, Ivan Barbashev doubled the home team’s lead and made it 3-1 to enter intermission. Vegas took an early penalty to start the third period, which led to Alex Iafallo’s second power-play goal against the Golden Knights this season to bring the Jets back within one. But, Marchessault scored two more times in the final frame for the hat trick to push Vegas ahead for the 5-2 victory. Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson recorded his fifth straight win, stopping 29 of 31 shots for a .935 save percentage and remains perfect on the season.
AGAINST THE AVALANCHE
The Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche will meet for the first time this season. Vegas completed their 2022-23 regular season series with the Colorado 1-2-0. The Golden Knights and Avalanche first met Oct. 22 where the Avalanche came away with a 3- 2 victory. In January, Nicolas Roy scored two goals in the second period to overtake Colorado 3-2 at Ball Arena. In their final meeting of the season, Colorado held Vegas off the scoresheet to defeat the Golden Knights 3-0. Mark Stone (0-3—3) and Nicolas Roy (2-0— 2) led the Golden Knights in team scoring against the Avalanche. Vegas is 9-12-1 all-time against the Avalanche, including a 5-7-0 mark at T-Mobile Arena.
STREAKING
The Golden Knights remained in the win column on Thursday night, improving to 10-0-1 on the season. Vegas became the 13th team in NHL history to post a season-opening point streak of at least 11 games and just the third in 16 years following the 2021-22 Panthers (11 GP) and the 2012-13 Blackhawks (24 GP). The Golden Knights’ season-opening point streak is the longest by a reigning Stanley Cup champion in NHL history.
POWER PLAY PROWESS
Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev each scored power-play goals against Winnipeg. It was the fourth time this season that the Golden Knights have cashed in on the power play multiple times in a game. All of last season, Vegas had multiple power-play goals in a game eight times. The Golden Knights have scored 10 goals on the mad-advantage this season, the fifth most in the NHL.
