Avalanche Heads Outside to Face Kings in 2020 NHL Stadium Series

The Colorado Avalanche is heading outdoors to take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
The Avs are going into this contests having won five of their last six games. Colorado fell 3-2 to the Washington Capitals on Thursday after the Caps rallied in the third period. Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky gave the Avs a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission, but Washington scored three unanswered goals, including two in the third period, to secure the two points in the standings.

Los Angeles defeated the Calgary Flames 5-3 on Wednesday at home. The Kings trailed 1-0 briefly in the second period but scored two goals in the middle frame and three more in the third for the win. Twelve different players recorded points on the Kings' five goals, with Anze Kopitar (two assists) and Kurtis MacDermid (goal and assist) both recording multi-point games.
This is Colorado's second time hosting an outdoor game, as the Avs played in the 2016 NHL Stadium Series at Coors Field in Denver. It is the Kings' third regular-season outdoor contest and their second as the visiting team.
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Avalanche vs. Los Angeles Kings

Falcon Stadium | U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo.
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COLORADO-LOS ANGELES CONNECTIONS

Colorado left wing Matt Nieto is from Long Beach… Avalanche assistant coach Ray Bennett spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Kings (1999-2006)… Kings general manager Rob Blake played parts of five seasons with Colorado, winning a Stanley Cup with the Avs in 2001… Los Angeles center Trevor Moore played at the University of Denver from 2013-2016.

HISTORY

The Avs own a 56-63-15 franchise mark against the Kings, including a 23-19-2 record as the home team since moving to Colorado in 1995. Colorado earned points in all three of the matchups against Los Angeles last season, posting a 2-0-1 mark since 2018.
The Avalanche hosted the first NHL Stadium Series in Colorado on Feb. 27, 2016 when the team fell 5-3 to the Detroit Red Wings at Coors Field in Denver. It is still the warmest NHL outdoor game on record, as it was 65 degrees Fahrenheit when the puck dropped. The game also ranks third for the most combined goals by both teams in a game with eight total.
Of the current Avalanche roster, 14 players have participated in an outdoor game at any level, with 10 players playing in NHL contests. Erik Johnson, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon were all members of the Colorado squad that played Detroit in Denver in 2016.
The Kings hosted the 2014 NHL Stadium Series against the Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium in Southern California and played the San Jose Sharks at Levi's Stadium in the 2015 NHL Stadium Series in Santa Clara, California.

ROSTER REPORT

The Avs recalled forward T.J. Tynan from the Colorado Eagles on Friday morning… Head coach Jared Bednar did not reveal his starting goaltender following Friday's practice at Air Force.

INJURY UPDATE

Nazem Kadri is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury suffered at the Minnesota Wild last Sunday… Colin Wilson (lower body) is rehabbing after undergoing two surgeries earlier this season.

SCOUTING THE KINGS

Los Angeles owns a 20-33-5 mark so far this campaign and is in seventh place in the Pacific Division. Of their 45 points on the season, the Kings have earned 20 of them on the road and average 2.24 goals per game as the away team. Overall, the club averages 2.45 goals per game while allowing 3.17 from the opposing team.
Los Angeles is 1-1-0 in regular-season outdoor games, with its win coming as the visiting team in Santa Clara. The Kings defeated the San Jose Sharks and current Avalanche player Matt Nieto 2-1 at Levi's Stadium in their second outdoor game appearance; they fell 3-0 to the Anaheim Ducks in the first outing outside. The matchup in Santa Clara was the fifth-most attended outdoor game in NHL history with 70,205 fans watching in the NFL stadium.

(AVS) PLAYER TO WATCH: Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon currently leads Colorado and ranks fourth overall in the league after registering 80 points (32 goals, 48 assists) so far this season. In addition to points, goals and assists, he tops the Avs in nearly every scoring category, including points per game (1.43), even-strength points (53), power-play points (27) and shots (260). MacKinnon is on a four-game home multi-point streak, the longest since Peter Forsberg in 2004.
MacKinnon scored the first goal in Avs outdoor game history back in 2016. He was one of two players (Gabriel Landeskog) to record a multi-point outing at the 2016 NHL Stadium Series after also registering an assist on top of his goal.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Anze Kopitar

Anze Kopitar is set to play his third NHL outdoor game with the Kings on Saturday. He participated in both of Los Angeles' previous outdoor games, both played in California in 2014 and 2015--the second and third warmest games on record, respectively. He is also one of only four players to take a penalty shot in an outdoor game; he was unsuccessful in the 2014 NHL Stadium Series. Kopitar currently leads Los Angeles with 49 points (17 goals, 32 assists) in the campaign.
The center was selected by the Kings in the first round (No. 11 overall) of the 2005 draft. Currently in his 14th season with Los Angeles, Kopitar has earned 937 points (329 goals, 608 assists) in 1,061 career outings.

NUMBERS GAME

7

Falcon Stadium will become the seventh football stadium to host the NHL Stadium Series. Falcon Stadium is the third college football venue to host the game, joining TCF Bank Stadium in Minnesota (2016) and Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Maryland (2018).

30

The outdoor meeting between Colorado and Los Angeles is the 30th NHL regular-season outdoor game to be played. It is also the 11th Stadium Series, with previous games being played in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago (2014), Santa Clara (2015), Minneapolis and Denver (2016), Pittsburgh (2017), Annapolis (2018) and Philadelphia (2019).

134

The 2020 NHL Stadium Series will mark the 134th time that the Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques and Los Angeles Kings have faced off in regular-season games since the 1979-80 season, with the Kings holding a 152-127 edge in points over the Avalanche (LAK 70-52-12-152; COL 56-63-15-127). In addition, the two franchises have met twice in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the most recent meeting coming in the 2002 Western Conference Quarterfinals, which was decided in seven games by the Avalanche.

143

The Avs have combined for 143 goals in the first and second periods this season. Colorado leads the league with 63 tallies in the first period and 80 in the second.

1,000

Approximately 1,000 Air Force cadets are expected to be inside of Falcon Stadium during the game, with 846 of them seated in chairs on the field. This will be the first NHL outdoor game with spectators on the field itself.

6,621

Saturday's game against the Kings will be played at 6,621 feet above sea level and set a new elevation record for an NHL regular-season outdoor game. The highest elevation prior to this was at Coors Field in Denver at the 2016 NHL Stadium Series (5,200 feet).

NOTEBOOK

This is the third and final NHL outdoor game this season… The Calgary Flames (5) and Winnipeg Jets (3) faced off in the NHL Heritage Classic on Oct. 26, 2019, in Regina, Saskatchewan, and the Dallas Stars (4) and Nashville Predators (2) participated in the 2020 Winter Classic at Dallas' Cotton Bowl Stadium on Jan. 1, 2020.
The matchup at the Air Force Academy is the second time an NHL outdoor game has been played at a service academy: the Washington Capitals (5) and Toronto Maple Leafs (2) played at the U.S. Naval Academy on March 3, 2018.
The home team has gone 8-1-1 in the last 10 NHL outdoor games and 13-13-3 overall… Of the 29 NHL outdoor games, 15 have featured a comeback win.
Mikko Rantanen has scored in back-to-back games, while Andre Burakovsky has recorded points in two straight contests. Rantanen is one goal away from reaching the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in as many seasons and one goal from 100 total in his career.
Ryan Graves owns a plus-41 rating after 55 games, he is only the fourth player over the past 30 seasons to post a plus-40 or better rating after 55 team games.
The Avs lead the league with 3.61 goals per game… Colorado has a plus-45 goal differential to lead the Western Conference and rank third in the league overall.