Thursday, March 28, 2024

NHL Preview: New Jersey Devils (39-15-5) at Colorado Avalanche (34-19-5)

NEW JERSEY DEVILS NOTES:

Last Game:
Last Game
Philadelphia Flyers 0 New Jersey Devils 7
(23-28-810-56 PTS) (39-15-5 -83 PTS)
Three Stars: 1. J. Siegenthaler 2. A. Schmid 3. N. Hischier
SCORE 1
ST 2
ND 3
RD OT SO FINAL
Philadelphia 0 0 0 – – 0
DEVILS 0 3 4 – – 7
Goals:
PHI: SHUT OUT
NJD: J. Siegenthaler, J. Hughes, D. Mercer, N. Hischier, D. Hamilton, J. Bratt, N. Bastian

INJURIES/ILLNESS
PLAYER INJURY OUT SINCE GAMES MISSED
Jonathan Bernier ā€“ LTIR Lower-body, hip 2021-22 57
Mackenzie Blackwood I.R. Lower-body 2/21/23 3
2022-23 Total Man-Games Lost to Injury/illness: 167

TRANSACTIONS
DATE PLAYER ACTION
1/28/23 Nikita Okhotiuk Reassigned to Utica
2/6/23 John Marino Activated off I.R.
2/17/23 Alex Holtz Reassigned to Utica
2/21/23 Akira Schmid Recalled from Utica
2/26/23 Timo Meier, Timur Ibragimov, Scott Harrington, Santeri Hatakka, Zachary Emond & a fifth-round pick Acquired via trade from SJS
2/26/23 Shakir Mukhamadullin, Nikita Okhotiuk, Andreas Johnsson, Fabian Zetterlund, a conditional 2nd-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft & a 7th-round selection in 2024 Traded to SJS
2/27/23 Mackenzie Blackwood Placed on I.R.
2/27/23 Scott Harrington Placed on waivers
2/28/23 Graeme Clarke Recalled from Utica

BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
Overall: 10-5-1
First game: 4-3-1 | home: 0-1-0 | road: 4-2-1
Second game: 6-2-0 | home: 2-2-0 | road: 4-0-0

VS COLORADO
Jerseyā€™s team is 1-0-0 vs Colorado in 2022-23.
The Devils were 1-1-0 vs Colorado last season.
The lasts time that the Devils swept the Avs in a season series was in 2017-18 (2-0-0), which also marked the lasts time that Jersey won a season series vs the Avs.

ALL-TIME vs COLORADO/QUEBEC
Record: 39-43-8-4
Home: 24-18-4-2
Road: 15-25-4-2

DID YOU KNOWā€¦
The most goals in franchise history earned in a single game vs the Avs/QUE was nine goals, twice, (vs QUE), last, Mar. 10, 1990, in a 9-3 win.
The most goals that the Devils allowed in a single game vs the Avs/QUEis nine, which happened on Dec. 14, 1985, after a 9-3 defeat at Quebec.
The most shots that Jersey earned in a single game vs Colorado is 43, after a 3-2 loss on Oct. 15, 2010, at the Rock.
The most shots that the Devils allowed in a single game vs the Avs/QUE is 43, on Jan. 29, 1983, at Quebec in a 6-4 loss.
The last time the Devils shut out the Avs was on Mar. 15, 2012, in a 1-0 shootout win at the Rock.
The last time the Avs shut out the Devils was on Mar. 17, 2019, in a 3-0 loss at Colorado.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE .
Fri. Mar. 3, at VGK, 10:00 P.M. E.T.
Sun. Mar. 5, at ARI, 7:00 P.M. E.T.
Tue. Mar. 7, vs TOR, 7:00 P.M. E.T.
Thu. Mar. 9, at WSH, 7:00 P.M. E.T.
Sat. Mar. 11, at MTL, 7:00 P.M. E.T.

COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:

UPCOMING GAMES

Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Wed, Mar. 1 NEW JERSEY 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Sat, Mar. 4 at Dallas 1:30 p.m. ESPN+, ABC, SNet 92.5 FM
Sun, Mar. 5 SEATTLE 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Tue, Mar. 7 SAN JOSE 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Thu, Mar. 9 LOS ANGELES 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Sat, Mar. 11 ARIZONA 4 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM

TONIGHTā€™S GAME
COLORADO vs. NEW JERSEY
7:08 p.m.
Altitude / 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche wraps up a three-game homestand tonight against the New Jersey Devils at Ball Arena ā€¦ The Avs have won six straight games, matching their longest win streak of the season (Jan. 14-24) ā€¦ Colorado is 7-0-1 in its last eight games, the clubā€™s longest point streak of the 2022-23 season ā€¦ The Avs are 14-2-2 (.833) in their last 18 contests since Jan. 14 ā€¦ Only Boston (15-3-1) has more wins/points and only Carolina (.844, 13-2-1) has a higher winning percentage during this stretch ā€¦ The Avalanche finished 7-1-2 (.800) in February, the second-best record in the NHL behind the Bruins (9-1-0, .900)ā€¦ Colorado is 7-1-1 in its last nine on home ice and 7-1-1 in the last nine away from Denver ā€¦ Colorado has played only 58 games, tied for the fewest in the NHL ā€¦ The Avs finish the season with 27 games in 50 days from Feb. 24 ā€“ April 14.

ON THE CALL
Altitude TV: Marc Moser (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst), Katie Gaus (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey

LAST GAME
Feb. 27 ā€“ Colorado 3, Vegas 0 at Ball Arena
Mikko Rantanen scored 14 seconds into the game and later added his 40th goal of the season to lead the Avalanche to a 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena ā€¦ Alexandar Georgiev stopped all 31 shots for his career-high third shutout of the season and his fifth consecutive victory ā€¦ Nathan MacKinnon tacked on an empty netter.
SF: 34 SA: 31 PP: 0-1 PK: 1-1

The Avs have won six straight games, matching their longest win streak of the season (Jan. 14-24) ā€¦ Colorado is 7-0-1 in its last eight games, the clubā€™s longest point streak of the 2022-23 season The Avs are 14-2-2 in their last 18 games ā€¦ Colorado has scored the first goal in 16 of those 18 contests The Avalanche finished 7-1-2 (.800) in February, the second-best record in the NHL behind Boston (9-1-0, .900) The Avalanche scored on their first shot of the game for the third straight contest ā€¦ This is just the third time in franchise history that the Avs scored on their first shot of a game for three consecutive contests ā€¦ The other instances: Nov. 27-30, 2005 (3 GP) and Jan. 13-17, 2000 (3 GP) Rantanen reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career ā€¦ He became the fourth different player (seventh time) in Avalanche history to score 40 goals in a season ā€¦ Rantanen, who reached the 40-mark in his 58th game, became the fastest Avalanche player to ever score their 40th goal, topping Joe Sakic (65th game) in 1995-96 Rantanen extended his goal streak to five games, the longest streak by an Avalanche player in 2022-23 ā€¦ He is one shy of equaling his career-long streak (six games) set from Jan. 15-26, 2021 Rantanenā€™s goal at 0:14 of the first period is tied for the seventh-fastest to start a game in franchise history Rantanen notched his eighth game-winning goal of the season, a new career high and tied for second in the NHL Both of Rantanenā€™s goals came at even strength, his league-leading 31st and 32nd even-strength tallies of 2022-23 MacKinnon extended his goal streak to four games and point streak to eight contests, both season highs ā€¦He has points in 11 consecutive home games (8g/11a) The Avalanche improved to 10-2-0 all-time on Military Appreciation Night Georgiev posted his fifth straight victory, tying his career long win streak set last year ā€¦ He is 6-0-1 in his last seven games and 10-1-1 in his last 12 appearances Georgievā€™s three shutouts this season are a career high Valeri Nichushkin extended his point streak to five games (2g/4a) J.T. Compher notched his 100th career NHL assist

CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz ā€“ lower body (Feb. 14 ā€“ present)
Darren Helm ā€“ lower body (Jan. 14 ā€“ present)
Erik Johnson ā€“ lower body (Feb. 14 ā€“ present)
Gabriel Landeskog ā€“ lower body (Oct. 12 ā€“ present)
Kurtis MacDermid ā€“ head (Feb. 27 ā€“ present)
Cale Makar ā€“ head (Feb. 19 ā€“ present)
Total: 327

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Mar. 1 ā€“ Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 28 ā€“ Justus Annunen recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 27 ā€“ Darren Helm placed on Injured Reserve (retroactive to Jan. 12) ā€¦ Brad Hunt, Jonas Johansson, Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) ā€¦ Brad Hunt, Jonas Johansson, Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Feb. 26 ā€“ Jack Johnson acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Andreas Englund
Feb. 25 ā€“ Justus Annunen recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) ā€¦ Keith Kinkaid acquired from the Boston Bruins in exchange for Shane Bowers ā€¦ Kinkaid reports to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) ā€¦ Keaton Middleton signed to a two-year contract through 2024-25 ā€¦ Justus Annunen, Brad Hunt reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)

TONIGHTā€™S OPPONENT ā€“ NEW JERSEY DEVILS
The Avalanche and Devils meet for the second and final time this season ā€¦ New Jersey won the first matchup 1-0 back on Oct. 28 at Prudential Center ā€¦. Colorado is 5-2-0 in its last seven games against the Devils and has won the last three meetings here at Ball Arena ā€¦ These two teams met in the 2001 Stanley Cup Final, a series Colorado won in seven games

SCHEDULE vs. DEVILS
Oct. 28 @ New Jersey (L, 0-1)
Mar. 1 vs. NEW JERSEY

RECORD vs. DEVILS
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: 0-1-0 Overall: 1-1-0 Overall: 47-39-9 Overall: 21-16-4 Series (record): 1 series (1-0)
Home: — Home: 1-0-0 Home: 27-15-4 Home: 13-6-1 Record Overall: 4-3
Road: 0-1-0 Road: 0-1-0 Road: 20-24-5 Road: 8-10-3 Last: 2001 Cup Final (W, 4-3)

ONE MONTH AT A TIME
The Avalanche finished 7-1-2 (.800) in February, the second-best record in the NHL behind only Boston (9-1-0, .900) ā€¦ February marked the 26th consecutive month that Colorado has posted a .500 or better record in, tying the franchise record set from March 1994 to February 1998 ā€¦ This current run, which began in February 2019, is the third-longest active streak behind the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes, who extended their streaks to 30 and 27 months, respectively ā€¦. Twenty four (24) of these last 26 months featured a winning record, as only October 2021 (4-4-0) and October 2022 (4-4-1) did not.

BACK-TO-BACK
The Avs are 11-4-1 (.719) in back-to-back games this season, third best in the NHL behind only Boston (14-2-2, .833) and Carolina (13-3-2, .778) ā€¦ The Avs are 5-2-1 in the first game and 6-2-0 in the second contest, as only the Hurricanes (7-1-1) and Bruins (7-2-0) have a better record on the second night of a back-to-back ā€¦ The Avalanche on Saturday wrapped up a stretch of three consecutive sets of back-to-back games, with the club earning 11 of a possible 12 points during that spanā€¦ All three back-to-backs required travel in between (either home/road or road/home) and all three opponents on the second half of the back-to-back were waiting for the Avs, with Colorado sweeping all three games ā€¦ 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) ā€¦ The Avs finished 7-3-1 in the first game and 8-2-1 in the second.

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