Colorado Plans To Convert Snow into An Avalanche against Hurricanes

Denver, Co – On Saturday afternoon in Colorado’s rapidly thawing snowstorm, Carolina Hurricanes players battled through to meet Colorado Avalanche for the first time this season. The Colorado Avalanche are 3-5-0 at home this season and last won against Seattle Kraken on Tuesday 11/5. Following an agonizing loss against Winnipeg (1-0), returning back home was especially hard fought; goaltender Connor Hellebuyck earned another shutout victory! With this loss, both Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon saw their consecutive season-opening point streaks end (13). Even so, MacKinnon still leads the NHL in assists (19). His 25 points put him second among NHL leaders behind Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov (27). Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) skates through neutral zone during first period action against Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on November 19, 2013. Photo courtesy James Carey Lauder-Imagn ImagesA Battle of Two ForcesColorado and Carolina last met back in February when Carolina took a 5-2 victory at home over Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) during home matchup in February. Martin Necas recorded a natural hat trick early in the game for Colorado Avalanche against Hurricanes Hurricanes to earn them an even split in season series and gain bragging rights as their side claimed one win against each of them last season: home defeat for Avalanche by score of 6-4 on October 7th in Denver; away victory by score of 8-0 won them the matchup at last. They enter tonight’s match having won four out of their previous five meetings against the Hurricanes at Ball Arena, boasting an overall franchise record of 80-50-21-3 against them and 49-19-9-1 stats when playing home matches vs. them. These 49 wins represent their most against an opposing franchise/team/player/franchise in franchise history. Heading into tonight with an eight-game point streak and currently 4th in league standings although their points percentage would place them second overall, it will be interesting to see whether their current standing can hold out or not. Martin Necas leads his team in points and assists, with Jack Roslivic leading them in points (after signing as a free-agency addition this off-season). Roslovic had nine goals last season while with New York Rangers. Jaccob Slavin already reached that mark after just 12 games with Carolina Hurricanes; two came during Thursday’s 5-1 victory against Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight marks his homecoming to Colorado after living there since 2007. Slavin signed an 8-year deal with Carolina this offseason that will keep him at Raleigh until after 2032-33 season ends, cementing his status as one of the premier defensive backs currently active in the NHL. He ranks 13th on NHL Network’s ranking list released this offseason. Cale Makar tops this list at number one while Devon Toews stands in at 10. Tonight’s game also marks Sean Walker’s return, who joined Colorado as part of last season’s trade-deadline pickup but recently signed a five-year, $3.6M contract with Carolina during this latest free agency period. Walker notched only one point this season – scoring against Boston Bruins with his goal – though his presence has improved Carolina’s defensive prowess on the ice via blocked shots and DZ recoveries. His speed has only made adjusting easier. When reflecting upon their play in Winnipeg, Jared Bednar of Colorado Avalanche Head Coaching enjoyed watching how his team fared against Winnipeg Jets. He’s hoping the team can replicate that success against Winnipeg on the ice tonight against Carolina:”My expectation for today against Carolina is for us to play like we did against Winnipeg – with speed, aggression and creativity.” We strive to take periods or full games and set back the bar in terms of how we play. Winnipeg was our best performance all season in terms of intensity, competition and attention-to-detail when executing game plans – so much so that I’ve challenged our players to repeat that success moving forward. There are similarities in both teams’ games; their styles of play, defensive schemes and ability to get four lines involved all offer insight. “I think we did an admirable job against Winnipeg; playing like that will eventually produce results. Today against Carolina there have been some minor adjustments made to our game plan and lineup; but many similarities still remain between both teams. Aside from one change on defense (John Ludvig replacing Calvin de Haan in John Ludvig’s place), our lineup for tonight should look similar.” Georgiev will start in net for the second consecutive game and according to Bednar was outstanding against Winnipeg: “Alexandar Georgiev gave us great chance in that game and is incredible!” Justus Annunen had some strong starts to his tenure and deserves equal consideration when selecting our goaltenders; similarly Georgiev [Gorgiev]. Colorado Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (40), warms up before warming up against Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on March 17, 2014. Photo credit goes to James Carey Lauder/Imagn Images Carolina Airlines flew into Denver today due to an impending snowstorm grounding their flight out of Raleigh. Bednar gave his team some advice for taking advantage of such situations: “Ideally, you would want them to get off to a strong start, but this team plays quickly. You need an aggressive defense if that is going to work for them.” As it’s something most don’t experience every day, traveling on an aircraft could provide Colorado an edge; but with their preparation being so outstanding thus far this season I don’t see an obvious advantage (except maybe on time arrival to their game venue ). “Colorado will attempt to capitalize on as many advantages possible tonight to secure their second straight home win and start their four-game homestand off strong.