WASHINGTON--Ian Cole will make his season debut today when the Colorado Avalanche takes on the Washington Capitals at 3 p.m. MT at Capital One Arena.

Cole missed the first four games of the season while recovering from offseason surgery on both of his hips, but he's been a full participant in the club's practices for a week now. Head coach Jared Bednar said that the defenseman will be paired with Ryan Graves on the backend, replacing Mark Barberio, who will be scratched.

Andre Burakovsky lifted the Colorado Avalanche past the Arizona Coyotes to a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday, two nights after scoring the decisive goal in Colorado's 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins. He'll look to help his team stay undefeated as the Avs face his former club, the Washington Capitals, to start their season-long, six-game road trip on Monday.

The Avalanche has started the season 4-0-0, the team's best start since 2013-14, and it's received contributions from all ends. Colorado has16 skaters with at least one point while Philipp Grubauer, also a former Capital, is 3-0-0 with a .931 save percentage, stopping the last 30 shots in his most recent start against the Bruins. Meanwhile, Pavel Francouz earned his first win in his first NHL start on Saturday, stopping 34-of-36 shots on goal to lead the Avs to an OT victory.

Altitude Sports has teamed up with the Colorado Avalanche and Brooklyn's at the Pepsi Center to bring fans road games during the week of Oct. 14.

Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of the Colorado Avalanche's first-ever game at Pepsi Center, a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 13, 1999.

Altitude Sports' Kyle Keefe has been around for all of it since the doors first opened and recalls some of his memories at the Avs' home arena on Chopper Circle.

The Pepsi Center has already been around for 20 years. That must mean I just turned 33. 

Ok, maybe not, but it does make me feel old as I've been there for just about every waking moment of it. Dead serious, I've been there since Pepsi Center was born. 

Saturday night was a night to remember for Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz.

Francouz made his first start in the National Hockey League and earned his first win in the league, stopping 34 shots against the Arizona Coyotes at Pepsi Center. He became the first Avalanche goaltender to earn the victory in his first career start in the league since Vitaly Kolesnik on Dec. 7, 2005 against the Boston Bruins.

The Plzen, Czech Republic, native also became the fourth Avalanche netminder since the franchise relocated from Quebec to have accomplished the feat as Peter Budaj (Oct. 8, 2005 at the Dallas Stars) and David Aebischer (Oct. 18, 2000 at Columbus) also did so.

"It's been great, I was dreaming about a moment like this my whole life, and I was just trying to enjoy every second of that," said Francouz. "I was really happy that it worked out, and we were able to win this game.

Andre Burakovsky scored with 1:31 remaining in overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday at Pepsi Center.

Burakovsky tallied the game-winner for a second-straight contest after also doing it on Thursday against the Boston Bruins. The Avs improved to 4-0-0 on the year, sweeping their season-opening homestand.

Coming off a year in which he posted a career-high 32 points, Colorado Avalanche forward J.T. Compher had a new training partner at home this summer--his younger sister Jesse.

J.T. spent the 2019 offseason in his native Northbrook, Illinois, which allowed him to prepare for his fourth professional season with Jesse, who was getting ready for her junior caampaign at Boston University.

"It was the first full summer of training together. We weren't in the gym together every day, but a lot. She had surgery earlier in the summer, so she was working to get back," said J.T. "Definitely got to spend a lot more time together because I was at home in Chicago, and she was working her tail off."

Goaltender Pavel Francouz will make his first NHL start this evening when the Colorado Avalanche hosts the Arizona Coyotes at Pepsi Center.

Francouz played in two games last season with the Avalanche, both in relief appearances. He made 21-of-22 saves in his NHL debut on Dec. 22 at Arizona and stopped 12-of-13 shots on Jan. 2 against the San Jose Sharks.

The Plzen, Czech Republic, native is in his second season with the Colorado organization after signing as a free agent on May 2, 2018. He spent the majority of last year--his first in North America--with the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League and became one of the best goalies in that league.

The Colorado Avalanche hosts the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, two nights after the Avs defeated the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins. With their 4-2 win on Thursday, Colorado improved to 3-0-0 on the year and are one of two remaining undefeated teams in the West (Edmonton).

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--The Colorado Avalanche was without two of its top forwards at Friday's practice, but both Joonas Donskoi and Gabriel Landeskog are expected to be in the lineup on Saturday when the club faces the Arizona Coyotes.

The two Scandinavian wings were given maintenance days by head coach Jared Bednar and stayed off the ice at Family Sports Center.