TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (10-6-5) AT COLORADO AVALANCHE (14-6-0)
7:00 PM MDT | BALL ARENA | WATCH: ALTITUDE TV | LISTEN: 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche begin their season series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. The Avalanche have won three-straight games, outscoring the opponents 11-5. The Lightning have won four out of their past five games while outscoring opponents 25-14.
Latest Results: November 25, 2023 COL: 3 CGY: 1
November 24, 2023 TBL: 8 CAR: 2
PUTTING OUT THE FIRE
Colorado defeated the Calgary Flames 3-1 Saturday night in Denver. The Avs swept their first back-to-back this season (beating the Minnesota Wild 3-2 Friday night). Since last season, Colorado has swept their last five back-to-backs and nine of their last eleven.
AVALANCHE vs FLAMES 11.25.2023 RECAP
Jonathan Drouin kicked off the scoring on the power play, which would be the only goal in the first period. Ryan Johansen doubled the lead for Colorado in the second frame, with his seventh tally of the season. Mikael Backlund scored the lone goal for the Flames in the second period. Nathan MacKinnon recorded his seventh tally of the campaign to secure the win for the Avalanche. Ivan Prosvetov stopped 29-of-30 shots en route to his second win of the season.
AVS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
With an assist on Drouin’s goal, MacKinnon now has points in all nine home games, the longest season-opening home point streak in Avs history (since 1995-1996). Dating back to the Nordiques days, Mats Sundin’s run of finding the scoresheet in each of the team’s first 16 home games in 1992-93 was the last time the franchise saw a longer streak of that criteria.
Cale Makar recorded an assist on MacKinnon’s goal. It is Makar’s 21st point of November, tying the franchise record for points by a defenseman in a single month (Makar, March 2023; Duchesne, November 1992). Makar also reached the 30-point benchmark, becoming the eighth defenseman in NHL history to record 30 points within his first 20 games of a season. The helper was also the blueliner’s 276th career point, passing John-Michael Liles for sole possession of second place for the most points by a defenseman in franchise history trailing only Tyson Barrie (307).
The Avalanche are 6-1-0 in their last seven games and 3-0-0 at home in that span.
HISTORY
Colorado owns a 25-19-3-4 all-time record against Tampa Bay, with a 15-6-2-3 mark at home. Last season, the Avalanche went 0-1-1 against the Lightning. Colorado is 2-1-1 against the Lightning in the regular season since the start of their Stanley Cup winning season. Monday’s outing is the first of two games scheduled between the teams this season. They’ll play the final contest on February 11th at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay.
CHAOS IN CAROLINA
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 8-2 on Friday night at PNC Arena. After trailing 1-0 at the end of the opening frame, Tampa Bay scored three straight goals on the power play from Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov (his first of two on the night), and Brayden Point (his first of an eventual hat trick). Michael Bunting responded for the Hurricanes with his fourth of the campaign to conclude the scoring in the second period. The Lightning then erupted for five straight in the final period from Brandon Hagel, Luke Glendening, Kucherov and two from Point to complete his second hat-trick of the season. Kucherov finished the night with six points (2g/4a). The Lightning went 4-for-5 on the power play. Andrei Vasilevskiy made his season debut, stopping 22-of-24 shots.
LIGHTING IT UP
Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL with 35 points (15g/20a) and is tied for the lead league in goals. He has found himself on the scoresheet in five straight, in which he has 12 points (4g/8a).
Brayden Point ranks tied for the sixth most points (11g/18a) in the NHL.
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s power play ranks second in the NHL at 34.7%.
NUMBERS GAME
26
Mikko Rantanen (12g/14a) and Nathan MacKinnon (7g/19a) are tied for the eleventh most points in the NHL with 26.
12
Devon Toews is tied for the fifth highest plus-minus rating in the NHL at +12.
25
Cale Makar is tied with Quinn Hughes for the most assists in the NHL this season with 25.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“Every time we get out there, everyone is trying to score and find a way to create offense. It’s the sign of a good team and good players when guys are consistently stepping up. We are finding ways to get the job done and collect wins.”
- Colorado Center Ryan Johansen on scoring depth
