Avalanche Closes Canadian Swing in Calgary

The Colorado Avalanche continues its road trip against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday at Scotiabank Saddledome.
This is the fourth of the five-game trip for Colorado and the final game in Canada after the Avs defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 on Tuesday, fell 6-2 to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and earned a 5-4 victory in overtime against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. The Avs are currently tied for the sixth-most points on the road in the league with 13 and a 6-4-1 record while traveling. Colorado heads into this matchup in second place in the Central Division with a 12-6-2 record and 26 points.

Nathan MacKinnon, whose 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) rank sixth in the league, leads the Avs in points so far this campaign. Cale Makar is coming off of a career-high four-point game and is the second-highest point-getter for Colorado with 22 points (five goals, 17 assists). Makar (four goals, eight assists) and MacKinnon (six goals, six assists) are also tied for fifth place in the league for most points in November with 12 each. Andre Burakovsky has also recorded 16 points (eight goals, eight assists), Nazem Kadri has 15 (seven goals, eight assists) and Joonas Donskoi totals 14 (nine goals, five assists). Additionally, Donskoi is the second leading goal-scorer for Colorado behind MacKinnon.
Calgary is 1-3-1 in its last five outings and fell 3-0 to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday and 6-0 to the Vegas Golden Nights on Sunday. Saturday marked the first time that the Flames were shutout this season. After hosting the Avs on Tuesday, Calgary will head out on a four-game road trip.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season, with the season-series finale coming at Pepsi Center on Dec. 9.

Avalanche vs. Calgary Flames

Scotiabank Saddledome | Calgary, Alberta
| Game Time: | 7 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | Altitude (blackouts apply), CBC (VAN) | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, FM 92.5/AM 950 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NHL.tv, AltitudeNow.com, Official app (blackouts apply to all) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | @Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-CALGARY CONNECTIONS

Cale Makar is from Calgary and played for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League from 2014-2017… Logan O'Connor grew up in Calgary… Tyson Jost (St. Albert) and assistant coaches Ray Bennett (Innisfail) and Nolan Pratt (Fort McMurray) are from the province of Alberta… Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar was an assistant coach for the Flames' AHL affiliate, Abbotsford Heat, during the 2009-10 season… Colin Wilson's father, Carey, played for the Flames from 1983-1988.

HISTORY

The two clubs met to open the season on Oct. 3 and Colorado defeated the Flames 5-3. The Avs were 0-2-1 against Calgary in the 2018-19 regular season but when the teams met again in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Colorado won the set in five games.
The Avalanche owns a 56-53-11 record against Calgary since moving to Colorado in 1995 and a 26-29-4 mark as the visiting team. Nathan MacKinnon has 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 22 career games (including postseason) against the Flames. Joonas Donskoi had two goals in the season-opening victory and now has 17 points (nine goals, seven assists) in 16 outings against Calgary, his most versus any opponent.

ROSTER REPORT

The Avs recalled forward Logan O'Connor from the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles on Monday. On Tuesday morning, Colorado reassigned Adam Werner and recalled A.J. Greer from the AHL.

INJURY UPDATE

Matt Calvert returned to Denver on Monday after suffering a head injury at the end of the game in Vancouver on Saturday…Philipp Grubauer (lower-body) and Pavel Francouz (concussion protocol) are day-to-day and could be available against Calgary… Tyson Jost (upper body) began practice in a red, non-contact jersey on Monday but did not finish the session and is unlikely to play versus the Flames… Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Colin Wilson are out with lower-body injuries.

SCOUTING THE FLAMES

Calgary owns a 10-10-3 record so far in the 2019-20 campaign. The Flames have earned 23 points to put them in a tie for fourth place in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Nights. Calgary has been shutout in its last two outings and is 3-4-1 in its last eight. The Flames have the seventh-highest home penalty kill percentage in the league at 88.2 percent and is 6-2-2 on its home ice.
The Flames finished last season with a 50-25-7 record and 107 points to win the Pacific Division and Western Conference overall, as well as end in a tie with the Boston Bruins for second place in the NHL.
In the first matchup of the year with Colorado on Oct. 3, Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan recorded one goal and one assist each to tie for the most points in the game. Mark Giordano scored a goal and Elias Lindholm logged a helper in the outing.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Matthew Tkachuk

Matthew Tkachuk has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) so far this season and is on top of the leaderboard for Calgary. He is one of three Flames players to have two game-winning goals this season, both coming in overtime, and the only man on the roster to score a goal during an additional period. Tkachuk finished with in fourth place in points last year for Calgary after recording 77 points (34 goals, 43 assists) in the 80 games he skated in. Four of those points came against the Avs, as he scored one goal and three assists over the season-series.
The 21-year-old was the Flames' first-round pick (No. 6 overall) in the 2016 draft and he is in his fourth season with the club. Tkachuk has played in 247 NHL contests and recorded 194 points (81 goals, 113 assists).

NUMBERS GAME

4

Cale Makar recorded a career-high four points in Saturday's game in Vancouver. His previous high was three points (one goal, two assists) on Nov. 7 against the Nashville Predators.

22

Cale Makar continues to lead all NHL rookies in points after scoring 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in his first 20 career games. Additionally, he is tied for second place for most points by a defenseman (rookie or veteran) in the league. Makar is just the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record 20 or more points in his first 20 career games. He is only the second to do so in the modern era (since 1943-44) and the first since Larry Murphy nearly 40 years ago.

70

Andre Burakovsky recorded his 70th career goal on Saturday in Vancouver. Burakovsky now has 161 total points (70 goals, 91 assists) in 348 NHL games. He has tallied 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) and has a plus-4 rating so far in his first season with the Avalanche.

NOTEBOOK

The Avs currently have 73 goals-for, which is the second highest in the league behind the Washington Capitals…Colorado has won six games on the road this season, tying the club for the fifth-most in the NHL…Nathan MacKinnon has scored three power-play goals this month and is tied for the second most in November…Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL in shots in November with 51 and has taken 99 shots so far this season, the second most in the league…MacKinnon has also tallied 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) on the road this season to put him in a fourth place in the league…Ian Cole has a plus-8 rating on the season, tied for the third-highest in the league…Colorado will conclude its five-game road trip on Thursday at the Minnesota Wild.