Utah Mammoth (0-0-0) @ Colorado Avalanche (1-0-0)
7 p.m. MT | Ball Arena | Watch: Altitude, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)
After a convincing road victory to begin the season, the Avalanche open the doors to Ball Arena for their Home Opener on Thursday against the Utah Mammoth. This is the first of four meetings between the Central Division foes, as they’ll play in Utah on October 21st, in Denver on December 23rd and again in Salt Lake City on February 25th.
Latest Result (COL): COL 4, LAK 1
Latest Result (UTA): Thursday’s game is Utah’s season opener.
Success in SoCal
Martin Necas scored a pair of goals and Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves as the Avs defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Sam Malinski and Artturi Lehkonen each added tallies for Colorado while Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon each recorded two assists. Necas opened the scoring 48 seconds into the middle frame with a right-circle wrist shot set up by MacKinnon’s feed. With the assist, MacKinnon recorded the 1,016th point of his career and passed Joe Sakic for the most points in franchise history since relocating to Colorado. At seven minutes of the second period, Malinski doubled Colorado’s lead in his 100th NHL game with a left-point wrist shot through traffic. After an incredible series of moves to create a chance by Makar, Lehkonen cleaned up the net-front rebound to give the Avs a 3-0 lead at 14:42 of the second period. Necas scored his second of the game with a power-play goal at 10:43 of the third period via a right-circle wrist shot. Kevin Fiala put the Kings on the board with a five-on-three power-play goal at 15:06 of the final frame. With the win, the Avs improved to 8-2-0 in season openers under Jared Bednar.
Leading the Way
Nate the Great
MacKinnon is tied for second in the league in assists (2) and tied for sixth in points (2).
All Hail Cale
Makar leads defensemen in assists (2) and is tied for the league lead among blueliners in points (2).
Marty Party
Necas is tied for second in the league lead in goals (2) and tied for sixth in points (2).
Series History
The Avalanche went 2-1-0 against the Mammoth in their inaugural season.
Making Plays Against the Mammoth
MacKinnon has posted five points (1g/4a) in three games against Utah.
In two contests against the Mammoth, Brock Nelson has recorded three points (1g/2a).
Malinski has recorded a pair of assists in three games against Utah
Salt Lake City’s Scorers
Clayton Keller led Utah in goals (30), assists (60) and points (90) in 2024-25.
Logan Cooley finished second on the team in points (65) and was third in goals (25) and assists (30).
Dylan Guenther finished second on the squad in goals (27), fourth in points (60) and fifth in assists (33).
A Numbers Game
299
Joel Kiviranta is scheduled to skate in his 300th NHL game on Thursday. He’s posted 60 points (35g/25a) in his previous 299 contests.
5
With a pair of helpers on Tuesday, MacKinnon became the fifth player in league history to record at least six multi-assist games in season-opening contests. He joins Jaromir Jagr (seven games), Adam Oates (seven games), Ray Bourque (six games) and Dale Hunter (six games) as players to achieve the feat.
31
Necas tied PA Parenteau for the fewest games (31) to reach 30 points in franchise history since relocating to Colorado.
Quote That Left a Mark
“[They got off to] a little bit of a slow start. But they got more involved and made some nice plays and capitalized on them, too. Both [on the] power play and [at] five-on-five. I thought they did a nice job setting the tone for us offensively.”
— Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar on Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon-Martin Necas line
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