Avalanche Captain Hits Major Milestone as Familiar Rival Comes to Town

Coming off an 8-4 win on opening night against the Los Angeles Kings, the Colorado Avalanche showed off pretty much everything we already knew about them: a high-flying offense, strong goaltending, and teammates who are ready to step up for one another, even if it means dropping the gloves.

Heading into Game 2 of the season, we can expect pretty much everything we saw in Game 1, including a fight, as they take on the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena.

Familiar Face Awaits Avalanche in Net

The Blues are coming off a back-to-back in their season opener, which saw them win 2-0 against the Dallas Stars with Joel Hofer in net. This means the Avalanche will be prepared to face Jordan Binnington in net, a name that evokes many memories for the Avalanche.

Despite some rough playoff memories, the Avalanche have gotten the best of Binnington in his career, as he carries a 12-14-1 record against him in regular-season play.

For the Avalanche, they are running it back with Mackenzie Blackwood, who will make his second consecutive start for Colorado. Blackwood saved 27 of 31 shots against the Kings in their 8-4 win.

Colorado will also be looking to build on the offensive momentum it opened the season with. The Avalanche had 13 players record at least one point against Los Angeles in the season opener.

All eyes will be on the power play as well, as the team was very successful on Opening Night, and that was encouraging as it was a weakness leaving the 2025-26 season.

Avalanche Still Waiting on Two Injured Forwards

Head coach Jared Bednar said that both Logan O’Connor and Zachary L’Heureux are making good progress in their recovery but will not suit up for tonight's game. He hopes to get them in the lineup when the Avalanche play the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames on back-to-back nights starting Wednesday.

It will be an important game for Gabriel Landeskog, as he will be playing his 800th career NHL game when he takes the ice. At 34 years old, the captain enters the game with 263 career goals and 344 career assists for 607 points, a total significantly impacted by a knee injury that kept him out for two seasons.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. MT.

Projected Avalanche Lines (Subject to Change)

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Nazem Kadri
Jaden Schwartz — Fedor Svechkov — T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly — Nicolas Roy

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Brett Kulak — Sam Malinski
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Noah Juulsen

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Avalanche Injuries

Logan O’Connor (lower body, day-to-day)
Zachary L’Heureux (lower body, day-to-day)

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