Avalanche and Golden Knights Clash Thursday

The Colorado Avalanche returns from the NHL Holiday Break on Thursday night, taking on the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
It's the first of three meetings between the clubs and the Avs' only trip to Vegas. Colorado was 1-2-0 in 2017-18 against the Knights in their inaugural season, including a 0-2-0 record as the road team.

Last Time Out

The Avalanche rallied from a three-goal deficit against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night, but fell 6-4 at Gila River Arena in Glendale. Colorado trailed 4-1 entering the third period and scored three straight to knot the game at 4-4 before the Coyotes netted a late go-ahead goal and an empty-net marker to seal a 6-4 win. Alex Kerfoot scored two goals to pace the Avs, while J.T. Compher (two assists) and Matt Nieto (two assists) also had multi-point efforts.
Vegas fell in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Sunday. Reilly Smith, Ryan Reaves and Tomas Nosek scored for the Golden Knights and Nick Holden added two assists. Vegas scored on its lone power-play opportunity of the game early in the third period, forcing the extra frame. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 28 saves.

Last Time They Met

Colorado fell 4-1 on March 26 in Las Vegas to wrap up a home-and-home series with the Golden Knights. Erik Johnson scored for the Avs to tie the game at 1-1 in the second period. The Avalanche went 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill. Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves and Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots.

What To Watch

On the Road
Thursday's game wraps up a short two-game road stretch for the Avs, which was separated by the league's holiday break. Colorado is 11-7-3 (25 points) on the road this year, the most away points in the Western Conference and third most in the NHL.
Streaks
Alexander Kerfoot and J.T. Compher each enter Thursday's contest on a two-game point streak, having each tallied three points over that stretch. Kerfoot (two goals, one assist) matched his career high with two goals against the Coyotes on Saturday, and Compher (one goal, two assists) ranks fifth on the team with nine goals despite having only played 21 games.

Player To Watch

Colorado: Left Wing Gabriel Landeskog
Landeskog started Colorado's rally in Arizona on Saturday night, scoring early in the third period to spark the Avalanche offense. He has scored a league-leading 16 goals in the third stanza, an Avalanche single-season record and breaking the previous mark of 15 third-period markers shared by Valeri Kamensky in 1995-96, Sakic in 2000-01 and Marek Svatos in 2005-06.
Vegas: Center Jonathan Marchessault
Marchessault ranks second on the team with 13 goals this season, and his 29 points is tied for first. He notched six points (three goals, three assits) in three games against the Avalanche last season.

The Details

Thursday's contest between the Avalanche and the Golden Knights is at 8 p.m. MT and can be watched live on Altitude. The radio broadcast can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM.