Avs Conclude Road Trip at Golden Knights

After finishing a three-game set at the St. Louis Blues, the Colorado Avalanche wraps up its four-game road trip when visiting the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
Colorado (31-11-4) fell to the Blues for the second straight contest on Monday, losing by a score of 4-1. Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone power-play goal and equaled his career-long point streak, finding the scoresheet for the 14th consecutive game. Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky each recorded an assist to extend their respective point streaks to three contests as goaltender Jonas Johansson made 16 saves.

Vegas earned its franchise-best ninth straight victory on Saturday with a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks, improving to 34-11-2 on the season. Chandler Stephenson led the way with his first career three-point outing (two goals, one assist) and tallied his fourth game-winning goal of the campaign. Alex Pietrangelo (two assists) and Shea Theodore (one goal, one assist) each collected multi-point efforts, while Theodore registered his third consecutive two-point contest and stretched his point streak to four games. Max Pacioretty lengthened his point streak to seven matchups, with netminder Robin Lehner stopping 23-of-24 shots to record his sixth straight victory.
Following Wednesday's meeting, the Avalanche returns to the Mile High City for a back-to-back set against the San Jose Sharks on Friday and Saturday.

Avalanche at Golden Knights

T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nev.
| Game Time: | 7:30 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | NBCSN | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, AM 950 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, Official app (blackouts apply to all) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | @Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-VEGAS CONNECTIONS

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played two seasons with Vegas after the team selected him in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft… Golden Knights defenseman Nick Holden played three seasons with Colorado from 2013-2016.

HISTORY

Colorado and Vegas last squared off just over a month ago as the squads split a two-game set on March 25-27 in Denver. The Avs took the first matchup in a 5-1 victory that featured five different goal scorers for the club and multi-point nights from Gabriel Landeskog (one goal, one assist), Cale Makar (one goal, one assist) and J.T. Compher (one goal, one assist). The Golden Knights evened the series with a 3-2 overtime win as Max Pacioretty potted the winner in the extra frame and added an assist for a two-point outing. Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche in scoring versus the Golden Knights this year, tallying two goals and three assists in six games.
Overall, the Avs hold a 3-2-1 record against Vegas on the season and a 1-1-0 on the road, while sporting an 8-5-1 mark all time. Wednesday's contest is the seventh meeting of the eight-game regular-season series between the Avs and Knights. The clubs will face off for the final time on May 10 in Vegas.

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche held an optional practice on Tuesday, as Philipp Grubauer was a participant for the first time since being removed from the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list on Friday. Head coach Jared Bednar said that Grubauer will not be an option on Wednesday but could be available for Friday's contest. Kiefer Sherwood suited up in Monday's contest in place of Brandon Saad, who suffered a lower-body injury on Saturday. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk is expected to get his fourth start in between the pipes.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram, Mikko Rantanen, Joonas Donskoi and Philipp Grubauer were all taken off of the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list over the past week. Rantanen and Donskoi have been skating on their own and could be options for Friday's game, according to Bednar. Grubauer has joined the team on the road trip for the past few days and has begun skating, while Byram (upper body and COVID protocol-related absence) and Logan O'Connor (lower body) each suffered setbacks in their recovery and are both out week-to-week. Brandon Saad is out two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury, Matt Calvert is week-to-week with an upper-body ailment and Jacob MacDonald is out with a lower-body injury. Pavel Francouz will miss the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury and Erik Johnson (upper body) could return later in the playoffs.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS

Since last meeting with the Avalanche on March 27, the Golden Knights have been on a tear, winning a franchise-best nine consecutive contests and 10 of the last 11 to hold the top spot in the West Division with 70 points (34-11-2)--four points ahead of second-place Colorado (66 points). The club owns the most wins in the NHL and has clinched its fourth consecutive playoff berth.
At T-Mobile Arena, Vegas boasts an 18-4-2 mark and has won four consecutive matchups. The squad has the fourth-best penalty-kill unit on home ice in the league, extinguishing 87.1 percent of its penalties and is averaging the fifth-fewest goals allowed per game at home (2.17). Versus the Avs, the Golden Knights hold a 4-3-0 all-time record in Las Vegas.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: ALEC MARTINEZ

In his first full season with the Golden Knights after being acquired by the club prior to the 2019-20 trade deadline, defenseman Alec Martinez has been a solid piece on both the backend and the offensive side of the ice. Martinez has tallied seven goals and 19 assists in 46 games, ranking tied for first in goals and second in points (26) among blueliners on Vegas. His plus-28 rating leads all Golden Knights skaters and is the best in the NHL as the defender has registered a positive plus-minus rating in five of his last six outings.
The 11-year veteran has played in 653 contests with the Los Angeles Kings and Golden Knights, compiling 71 goals and 161 assists with a career plus-56 rating. In 28 all-time meetings with Colorado, the two-time Stanley Cup champion (2011-12, 2013-14) has notched five goals and four assist, including two goals and one assist in six matchups this season--the fourth-most points on the team against the Avs this year.

NUMBERS GAME

25

Nathan MacKinnon's 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) on the man advantage are the third most in the league. MacKinnon has registered a power-play point in six straight contests and eight of the last nine, notching four goals and six assists over that stretch.

117

Colorado's defensemen have combined for a total of 117 points this season, tied for the third most by a group of defenders in the NHL. Cale Makar leads Avalanche blueliners with 35 points (five goals, 30 assists) and Samuel Girard ranks second with 31 points (five goals, 26 assists).

1,179

The Avalanche has held its opponents to a league-low 1,179 shots all season. The club has allowed 112 fewer shots against than the second-place Golden Knights (1,291).

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche sports a 13-7-2 mark on the road this season and a 6-3-1 record over its last 10 away from home… Nathan MacKinnon's current 14-game point streak equals his career best set from Feb. 24-March 22, 2018 and matched during last year's playoffs. He has totaled 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) during that stretch and is tied with Carolina's Dougie Hamilton for the longest point streak by any player this season. Since the start of his streak (March 27), MacKinnon ranks second in the league in points (27, Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers) while his 60 points (19 goals, 41 assists) overall in 2020-21 rank tied for third in the NHL… J.T. Compher is one goal away from his 50th of his career and Samuel Girard is two assists from his 100th career helper… The Avs have scored a power-play goal in six consecutive games and are 7-for-25 (28 percent) over that span. The Avalanche's six-game run with a power-play goal is its longest of the season and longest stretch since scoring a man-advantage tally in eight straight games from Feb. 26-March 13, 2018 (9-for-33, 27.3 percent). Overall, Colorado's power-play unit ranks tied for sixth in the NHL, converting on 24.0 percent of its opportunities… The Avalanche's 51.5 faceoff-win percentage is tied for the seventh best in the league. The team has won the faceoff battle in 28 games so far this campaign… Joonas Donskoi has scored 15 goals on 61 shots this year for a 24.6 shooting percentage, the highest in the NHL… Nathan MacKinnon has collected 33 points (nine goals, 24 assists) on the road this season, which is tied for the most points away from home in the league.