Milestone Night For Several Avs In Vegas

The Colorado Avalanche has not one, not two, but three skaters set to play in landmark games this evening when the team visits the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
Forward Gabriel Landeskog is expected to appear in his 500th NHL game while defenseman Tyson Barrie is set to play in his 400th outing and left wing Gabriel Bourque is anticipated to skate in his 300th contest.

Landeskog, the Colorado captain, will be the first player from the 2011 NHL Draft to reach the 500-game mark and only the fifth draft pick to do so in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). The other skaters are Alex Tanguay (598), Matt Duchene (586), Paul Stastny (538) and John-Michael Liles (523).
The 25-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden, was drafted second overall by the Avs in 2011.
In 71 outings this season, Landeskog has recorded 57 points (24 goals, 33 assists), his most since 2014-15 when he registered 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists) while playing in all 82 games.
"What I have really liked about this year is he has been even-keel, his message has been the same all year long," Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said of Landeskog. "Our feelings are the same about this team, that we have the ability to be a playoff team. We felt that from day one. That's the way that he has led our team and the way he has conducted his business all year long.
"His leadership and that of our core has been consistent. They have responded after losses most importantly, and after wins too. Not getting too high or too low, which is the same thing we are kind of going through right now and again last [game], it's a great response. It's a great bounce-back game, and it proves that we are a different club and that our leadership is strong."

In addition to Landeskog making his mark in the Avalanche history books, Barrie will join Adam Foote (760), Liles (523) and Erik Johnson (432) as the only defensemen to play 400 contests in an Avalanche sweater.
Barrie, a 2009 draft pick at 64th overall, has notched 52 points (12 goals, 40 assists) in 61 games this campaign and had a career-high 11-game point streak from Feb. 28 to March 20. The run was tied for the second longest by an NHL blueliner in the last 11 seasons, trailing only Philadelphia's Shayne Gostisbehere (15 straight in 2015-16) and tied with Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, who also had an 11-game streak in 2010-11.
The Avalanche rear guard notched six goals and nine assists during that stretch, the longest by a D-man in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). The Victoria, British Columbia, native joined Quebec's Steve Duchesne (15 games, 1992-93) as the only blueliners in franchise history to post double-digit point streaks.

Colorado forward Gabriel Bourque has skated in 51 games this season with the Avs after starting the campaign in the American Hockey League with the San Antonio Rampage.
A native of Rimouski, Quebec, Bourque has five goals and six assists this campaign and 89 points (36 goals, 53 assists) through 299 career NHL contests.
Bourque was drafted in 2009 by the Nashville Predators at No. 132 overall. He first signed with Avalanche as a free agent on Oct. 10, 2016.
All three are expected to play for Colorado as they take on the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena this evening. The Avs defeated Vegas 2-1 in a shootout at Pepsi Center on Saturday in the first half of the home-and-home set.