Preview: Colorado and Winnipeg face off in their first matchup of the season.

After ending their little three-game losing streak, Colorado gets their first look at the red-hot Winnipeg Jets this season.

After finally snapping their three-game losing streak and getting some much-needed reinforcements back, the Colorado Avalanche look to build off their 6-3 win over the Seattle Kraken as they take on the red-hot Winnipeg Jets. This is the first matchup between these two teams this season.

Colorado Avalanche

As previously mentioned, Colorado finally managed to snap their little three-game losing streak with a pretty dominant 6-3 win over the Seattle Kraken. Nathan MacKinnon notched five assists on the night, Mikko Rantanen ended his little scoring drought with a pair of goals on the night, and perhaps most notably, Arturri Lehkonen made his long-anticipated return to the lineup and scored a goal as well.

Cale Makar’s status became unknown, however, as he was injured during the game. The good news is that he made the trip with the team to Winnipeg and is a possibility to play today, which indicates that whatever might be ailing him is not that serious or long-term.

Projected Lineup

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Joel Kiviranta – Casey Mittelstadt – Logan O’Connor
Ivan Ivan – Parker Kelly – Nikolai Kovalenko
Nikita Prishchepov – Chris Wagner – T.J. Tynan

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Samuel Girard – Josh Manson
Calvin De Haan – Sam Malinski

Note: Cale Makar might very well not play today, but is listed as a possibility, which is why he’s listed here. If he can’t go, expect John Ludvig to slot in.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets come into this game as one of the hottest teams in the NHL, winning their last four games and putting themselves comfortably at the top of the Central Division standings for now. I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people didn’t think this Winnipeg team would be as good as they are right now, especially after their playoffs showing last season and their kind of quiet off-season.

And yet, they are still finding ways to win right now and are easily one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. The task of going toe-to-toe with the Jets will be tough for Colorado, especially with the current state of their roster, but it’ll be an exciting matchup between these two teams nonetheless.

Projected Lineup

Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Gabriel Vilardi
Cole Perfetti – Vladislav Namestnikov – Nikolaj Ehlers
Nino Niederreiter – Adam Lowry – Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron – Rasmus Kupari – Alex Iafallo

Josh Morrissey – Dylan Demelo
Dylan Samberg – Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley – Colin Miller

Goaltenders

Alexandar Georgiev will be starting tonight in Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck will likely get the start across from him. Going toe-to-toe with the opposing goaltender certainly won’t be easy, especially going against Hellebuyck, but those two went toe-to-toe last season, and we all saw how that ended. Despite his struggles recently, hopefully, he can find the same game that he had after game one of the playoffs this past season.