TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and Avalanche are playing the first of two matchups this season and the only meeting at Ball Arena…The Bolts posted a 2-0-0 record vs. COL last season, winning the two games by a combined score of 8-3… Anthony Cirelli (1-2—3), Brandon Hagel (2-1—3), Brayden Point (1-2—3) and Alex Killorn (0-3—3) were tied for the Tampa Bay team lead in points vs. COL last season with Hagel leading the way in goals and Killorn pacing the team in assists…Nikita Kucherov is riding a four-game point streak vs. COL (3-1—4) and has found the scoresheet in seven of his last eight contests vs. COL (5-3—8)…Kucherov has scored a goal in five consecutive games at COL (5-1—6) and has points in seven of his nine career games at Ball Arena (6-3—9)…Point is riding a five-game point streak vs. COL (3-4—7) and has points in five of his six career games at COL (2-4—6)…Steven Stamkos has posted 12 points over his last 10 contests vs. COL (5-7—12)…Tampa Bay is 18-15-5 with three ties all-time vs. COL, including a road record of 8-9-2 with two ties…Stamkos (8-8—16) holds the Lightning franchise records for career goals and points vs. COL, while Victor Hedman (2-13—15) leads the way in assists.
INJURIES
PLAYER INJURY STATUS GAMES MISSED
Conor Sheary Upper-Body Out, 4-6 weeks 8
2023-24 Total Man Games Lost: 43
COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – LIGHTNING
Tonight is the first of two meetings between the Avalanche and Lightning in 2023-24…The Avs will make their one visit to Tampa in mid-February…These two teams of course met in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, a series won by the Avalanche in six games.
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Oct. 11 – present) Jean-Luc Foudy – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – knee (Oct. 11 – present)
Artturi Lehkonen – upper body (Nov. 11 – present)
Chris Wagner – lower body (Oct. 11 – present)
Man-Games Lost: 102
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Nov. 25 – Riley Tufte reassigned to Colorado (AHL)
EAST SIDE STORY
The Avalanche are playing their sixth game against an Eastern Conference opponent but only their second versus the Atlantic Division (Buffalo)…The Avs are 3-2-0 against Eastern Conference teams this season, 2-0-0 at home…The Avs finished 18-11-3 against the East last year, 8-6-2 at home and 10-5-1 on the road…Since Jared Bednar was hired in 2016-17, the Avs are 111-67-18 (.612) against the Eastern Conference, which includes a 64-27-9 (.685) mark since 2019-20, the best record of any Western Conference team during that span.
FIRST BACK-TO-BACK
The Avalanche just finished their first back-to-back set of the season, sweeping Minnesota and Calgary over the weekend…It was the club’s fifth consecutive back-to-back sweep going back to last season…Colorado will play a total of eight back-to-back contests this year, tied for its fewest ever since relocating to Denver (also 2008-09)…The Avalanche played 13 back-to-back games last season, going a combined 19-5-2 (.769) in those contests, second in the NHL behind only Boston (23-3-2, .857)…Colorado finished 9-3-1 in the first game and was a league-best 10-2-1 (.806) in the second contest.
VIEW TO A KILL
Colorado ranks fifth in the league in penalty killing at 87.5% (70/80)…The Avs have given up only two power-play goals in the last seven games, killing 24-of-26 (92.3%)…The Avalanche began the campaign with 19 consecutive kills, their longest streak to start a season in franchise history. HOW
ABOUT THE POWER PLAY
The Avalanche have scored a power-play goal in seven consecutive games, their longest streak of the season…The Avs are 8-for-32 (25%) during this recent stretch…For the year, Colorado ranks 19th in the NHL in power-play percentage at 19.8% (16-81).
SHORT AND TO THE POINT
The Avalanche have scored five shorthanded goals, tied for third in the league…Logan O’Connor leads the NHL with three shorthanded tallies, while Cale Makar leads the NHL with three shorthanded assists.
