Tonight, the Colorado Avalanche are set to face the Los Angeles Kings in downtown Denver, CO, in a Western conference showdown. This is the third and final regular-season meeting between these two clubs, with the two splitting the first two matchups. Will Colorado or LA steal the season series on Pride Night at Ball Arena?
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado did well to end their recent road trip with a victory and stretched that into a dominant performance against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night. It was one for the record books against the Caps, with young phenom Cale Makar positioning himself on the top of the franchise docket for goals from a defenseman with a short-handed, nearly single-handed tally. In roughly nine minutes, Nathan MacKinnon said hold my beer and scored a natural hat trick in the second period. He’d finish the night with four goals, a MacKtrick, and five points. Mikko Rantanen also finished with five points.
Tonight’s game should be more challenging for Colorado as they face an LA team with road success this season. Nathan MacKinnon and his home-point streak might have something to say about that. I wonder if we will see undergarments on the ice in celebration of another showstopping performance from the Hart hopeful. The Avalanche would do well to get on the board early and often against the Kings, who’ve been struggling to score lately.
Projected Lineup:
Jonathan Drouin (27) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Mikko Rantanen (96)
Miles Wood (28) – Ross Colton (20) – Logan O’Connor (25)
Andrew Cogliano (11) – Ryan Johansen (12) – Artturi Lehkonen (62)
Kurtis MacDermid (56) – Frederik Olofsson (22) -Joel Kiviranta (94)
Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)
Sam Girard (49) – Josh Manson (42)
Sam Malinski (70) – Bowen Byram (4)
Alexandar Georgiev (40)
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings have had a tough go of it since Christmas, only securing two wins since late December. They have also lost a whopping five overtime contests in that time frame, with a lack of scoring being the glaring issue, as previously mentioned.
We saw a long-time and beloved King, Drew Doughty, share some not-so-subtle sentiments regarding the current state of the franchise. He mentioned some of his teammates being more or too concerned with their stats and not the outcome. Such rhetoric typically lends to one of two outcomes. Either it galvanizes a room or servers already thin team morale. I expect a solid effort from a plenty-capable Los Angeles Kings squad.
Project Lineup:
Quinton Byfield (55) – Anze Kopitar (11) – Adrian Kempe (9)
Trevor Moore (12) – Phillip Danault (24) – Kevin Fiala (22)
Alex Laferriere (78) – Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) – Jaret Anderson-Dolan (28)
Carl Grundstrom (91) – Trevor Lewis (61) – Samuel Fagemo (68)
Mikey Anderson (44) – Drew Doughty (8)
Vladislav Gavrikov (84) – Matt Roy (3)
Andreas Englund (88) – Brandt Clarke (92)
Cam Talbot (39)
Goaltenders
It will be Alexandar Georgiev vs. Cam Talbot tonight. Talbot hasn’t won since December 23rd of last year and is desperate to get back into the win column. Georgiev was good against the Capitals and can earn one more victory before heading to Toronto for NHL All-Star Weekend.
Broadcast Details:
Time: 7:00 p.m. MST
Watch: Altitude, BSW
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio FM 92.5, AM 950
Opponent’s Beat:Ā Jewels from the Crown