Preview: Saturday night hockey is back in Denver

For the first time this season, Colorado plays at Ball Arena.

The Colorado Avalanche open their season at Ball Arena tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It will give fans the opportunity to see new faces in burgundy and blue for the first time with their own eyes, alongside some new faces.

We will also see the team likely pay tribute to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, playing the Jackets for the first time since their tragic passing. Emotions will be high both on and off the ice, with both teams looking to get their first win of the season.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avs lost in their season-opener on Wednesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights in a subpar 8-4 performance. Those eight goals allowed came on just 22 shots combined between Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen.

The performances in net led Colorado to claim Kaapo Kahkonen off of waivers yesterday. After being in negotiations to trade for him at the deadline last season, the Avs now get their man. He will not be in Denver for the opener as he is still going through immigration, so expect the two current netminders to keep their spots for now.

Colorado will also be without Jonathan Drouin, who was injured against the Golden Knights in the second period, but continued playing. He is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and Chris Wagner has been called up as his replacement from the Colorado Eagles. Off the back of a Mikko Rantanen hat trick last game, can the Avs offense and defense combine for the season’s first win?

Projected Lines

Nikolai Kovalenko (51) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Mikko Rantanen (96)
Ross Colton (20) – Casey Mittelstadt (37) – Cal Ritchie (71)
Miles Wood (28) – Parker Kelly (17) – Logan O’Connor (25)
Ivan Ivan (82) – Chris Wagner (14) – Joel Kiviranta (94)

Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)
Josh Manson (42) – Sam Girard (49)
Calvin de Haan (44) – Sam Malinski (70)

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus played its season opener on the road against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Despite it being a close and fun matchup, the visitors would fall 3-2.

Of course, a lot of the focus leading up to the season was on the tragic deaths of the Gaudreau’s and how to move forward without a key star player. The team has already started rallying one another as they start the season with Gaudreau remembered with his own stall still in the locker room.

Sean Monahan was the big offseason acquisition, coming to Columbus to play with Johnny Hockey again after their time in Calgary. Zach Aston-Reese spent the preseason in Vegas and now is a Jacket, plus we’ll get to see old friend Jack Johnson again as Columbus looks for its first win of the season too.

Projected Lines

Yegor Chinakhov (59) – Sean Monahan (23) – Kirill Marchenko (86)
James van Riemsdyk (21) – Adam Fantilli (19) – Kevin Labanc (62)
Mikael Pyyhtia (82) – Cole Sillinger (4) – Kent Johnson (91)
Zach Aston-Reese (27) – Sean Kuraly (7) – Mathieu Olivier (24)

Zach Werenski (8) – Ivan Provorov (9)
Jake Christiansen (23) – Damon Severson (78)
Jack Johnson (3) – Erik Gudbranson (44)

Goaltenders

For the Jackets, we will see Daniil Tarasov in the crease over Elvis Merzlinkins. The Avs will be going back to Georgiev, hoping to get him back in his groove after a disappointing game one to start the season.