Tampa Bay Lightning (6-3-0) @ Colorado Avalanche (5-5-0)

7pm MT | ball arena | Watch: Altitude TV, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)

A familiar opponent is in town as the Avalanche host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena on Wednesday night. This is the first of two meetings between the clubs as they will meet again on November 25th in Tampa.

Last result (TBL): NSH 2, TBL 3 (OT)

Last result (COL): CHI 5, COL 2

Blackhawks vs Avalanche 10.28.24 Summary

The Avalanche lost 5-2 to the Blackhawks on Monday at Ball Arena. Chicago’s Philipp Kurashev scored the first goal on the power play at 8:47 of the first period. Colorado responded when Casey Mittelstadt scored his sixth goal of the season at 10:16. The Blackhawks responded with back-to-back goals from Lukas Reichel at 11:04 of the first frame and Ryan Donato at 16:56 of the first frame. Nathan MacKinnon brought the Avalanche within one goal with his fifth goal of the season on a five-on-three power play at 19:17 of the half. Neither team scored in the second period, but the Blackhawks scored empty-net goals from Donato at 19:02 of the third period and Ilya Mikheyev at 19:41 of the third period to seal the win.

Avs successes

MacKinnon and Cale Makar became the first teammates in franchise history to open the season with a concurrent 10-game point streak.

Makar’s 10-game season-opening point streak is the longest among defensemen in franchise history, while also being the second-longest in league history, behind only Bobby Orr, who had a 15-game season-opening point streak in the 1973–74 season recorded.

With his assist on Sunday, Mikko Rantanen scored his 631st career point, moving into ninth place with the most points scored by a Finnish-born player, passing Esa Tikkanen. He is six points short of tying Teppo Numminen for sixth place on this list and 80 points short of tying Mikko Koivu for seventh place.

Story

In 43 previous regular-season meetings, the Avalanche have a 21-15-7 record against the Lightning, in addition to a 4-2 record against them in the playoffs by winning six games in the Stanley Cup Final. Last season, the teams split the two-game season series, with the Avalanche winning at Ball Arena and the Lightning winning at Amalie Arena.

A thriller set in Tampa Bay

On Monday, the Lightning defeated the Nashville Predators at home 3-2 in overtime. Brayden Point scored the Lightning’s first goal at 9:49 of the first period before Mitchell Chaffee doubled the lead at 19:24 of the first frame. The Predators responded with second-period tallies from Ryan O’Reilly at 10:19 a.m. and Gustav Nyquist at 6:40 p.m. Neither team scored in the third period, but Nick Paul won the game for the Lightning at 3:22 of overtime.

Statistics you should know

In addition to the six points (2g/4a) he scored in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, MacKinnon has 29 points (11g/18a) in 19 regular season games against the Lightning.

Makar scored six points (1g/5a) in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and has another six points (1g/5a) in six regular season games against Tampa Bay.

Rantanen has nine points (3g/6a) in 13 regular season games against Tampa Bay, in addition to seven points (7a) in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

Flashes in numbers

Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning with eight goals and 14 points.

Anthony Cirelli (1g/9a) and Brandon Hagel (6g/4a) are tied for second on the team with 10 points.

Hagel and Point are tied for second place on the team with six goals each.

Numbers game

8

Mittelstadt has scored eight points (2g/6a) in its last four games. This is the first time in his career that he has scored eight points over a four-game span.

12

The Avalanche are tied for first in the league with 12 power play goals.

29

Colorado leads the NHL with 29 shots of at least 22 mph.

Quote that left its mark

“I think it’s just a matter of getting people connected. For us, especially as (defenders), I think it’s more about just D1 shooting than just D-to-D passing. When we get guys to the net we have to reward them and I think tonight, like I said, it was just a lot of perimeter play that didn’t produce a lot of great scoring chances.”

– Cale Makar on the adjustments