FLORIDA PANTHERS (24-12-2) AT COLORADO AVALANCHE (25-11-3)
2:00 PM MDT | BALL ARENA | WATCH: ALTITUDE TV | LISTEN: 92.5 FM
The Avalanche begin a three-game home stand by hosting the Panthers for a matinee game on Saturday at Ball Arena. The Avs have won their past four games and the Panthers have won their past six. The Cats sit at second in the Atlantic Division with 50 points (two shy of Boston who comes to Denver on Monday).
Latest Results:
January 4, 2024 COL: 5 DAL: 4 (OT)
January 4, 2024 FLA: 4 VGK: 3
SHINING AGAINST THE STARS
The Avalanche defeated the Stars 5-4 in overtime on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center. It was the second matchup between the divisional foes this season. Colorado won the first contest 6-3 after being down 3-0 early in the second period. The Avalanche are 27-16-5 in their past 48 matchups with the Stars. The Avs won both games on the road and only two games remain in the season series scheduled for February 27 and April 7 both at Ball Arena.
AVALANCHE vs STARS 1.4.2024 RECAP
Evgenii Dadonov opened the scoring in the first period for the Stars. Just 1:30 later, Nathan MacKinnon banked a shot off of a defenseman and past Scott Wedgewood to even the game at one. The Stars extended their lead to 3-1 when Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski (on the power play) found the back of the net in the second period. With 12 seconds left in the middle frame, Jonathan Drouin buried a rebound off of a point shot on the power play to bring the deficit to one. Seguin tallied his second of the game to reestablish Dallas’ two-goal lead to open the scoring in the third period. Drouin recorded his second goal of the game tipping a point shot past the glove of Wedgewood to once again bring the Avs within one. Mikko Rantanen tied the game with just over a minute remaining in regulation, his 20th tally of the season. MacKinnon scored the game-winning goal in overtime on a breakaway placing a snap shot just over the pad of Wedgwood on the blocker side.
AVS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
MacKinnon became the second player in franchise history to score overtime goals in consecutive regular-season games (Greg De Vries, 2003). He tied Milan Hejduk for the second-most game-winning tallies in Avalanche/Nordiques history with 59.
Devon Toews extended his point streak to seven games (2g/6a) with a multi-assist night.
Drouin’s first goal against the Stars was his 300th career point (85g/216a). He now sits at eight goals on the season, his most since 2018-19 (18 goals). The winger now has 12 points (5g/7a) in his last 11 games.
HISTORY
The Avalanche/Nordiques own a 27-12-3-5 all-time record against the Panthers. Colorado is 6-2-2 in their past 10 matchups against Florida. The clubs split last year’s season series one game apiece, with both teams winning on the road. The Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup the same year they relocaed to Denver from Quebec City in 1996 against the Panthers. Since that Cup victory, the Avs are 22-10-2-5 against the Cats.
VICTORY IN VEGAS
The Florida Panthers were victorious 4-1 on Thursday night against the Vegas Golden Knights at the T-Mobile Center. The Knights opened the scoring when Pavel Dorofeyev slammed home a rebound early in the first period. Sam Bennett leveled the game at one on the power play with his seventh tally of the campaign. Matthew Tkachuk tipped a point shot past Logan Thompson to give Florida a 2-1 lead. This would go on to be the game-winning goal. The Panthers doubled their lead to end the second period when Carter Verhaeghe found the back of the net for the 20th time this season. Sam Reinhart capped off the scoring with a power-play tally, his team-leading 25th goal this campaign. Florida went 3-for-6 on the power play and killed all six Vegas man-advantages.
STATS TO KNOW
MacKinnon (3g/1a) and Rantanen (1g/3a) paced the way with four points each in the season series against the Panthers last season. The centerman’s three goals led the way for the Avs in that category.
Georgiev is 2-1-0 in three career games against the Panthers, posting a .917 SV% in those contests.
POUNCING PANTHERS
Reinhart leads the Panthers in goals and ranks third in the NHL this season with 25 tallies. He is just nine goals from setting a career high (2021-22, 33 goals).
Sergei Bobrovsky is tied (Connor Hellebuyck) for the second-most wins by a netminder this season with 19.
Florida’s penalty-kill ranks sixth in the NHL at 84.2%.
NUMBERS GAME
64
MacKinnon recorded two goals and an assist Thursday night to bring him to 64 points this season. He is tied with Nikita Kucherov for the league-lead in points.
48
Mikko Rantanen ranks eighth in league points with 48 points (20g/28a).
53
The Colorado Avalanche are tied with the New York Rangers for the second-most team points this season with 53.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“We were going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league, that’s all you can really ask for. We aren’t going to dominate a top team for a whole game, so it’s good to win this type of game.”
- Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon on the comeback against the Stars
