Colorado Avalanche game preview: Hockey is back Saturday night in Denver vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

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

We'll also likely see the team pay tribute to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau and play against the Jackets for the first time since their tragic deaths. Emotions will be high both on and off the ice as both teams look to secure their first win of the season.

Colorado avalanche

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

Performances in net led to Colorado claiming Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers yesterday. After the Avs negotiated a trade with him at the deadline last season, they are now getting their man. He will not be in Denver for the opening game because he is still in the immigration process. It can therefore be assumed that the two current goalkeepers will keep their places for the time being.

Colorado will also be without Jonathan Drouin, who was injured in the second period against the Golden Knights but continued to play. He is currently dealing with an upper body injury and Chris Wagner was called up as his replacement by the Colorado Eagles. Can the Avs offense and defense get their first win of the season after a hat trick from Mikko Rantanen in the last game?

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 Thursday on the road against the Minnesota Wild. Although it was a close and entertaining duel, the guests lost 2-3.

Of course, the focus leading up to the season was the tragic death of the Gaudreau family and how to move forward without a key star player. The team had already started rallying around each other at the start of the season, and Gaudreau remembers still in the locker room with his own.

Sean Monahan was the big offseason addition, coming to Columbus to play hockey with Johnny again after their time in Calgary. Zach Aston-Reese spent the preseason in Vegas and is now a Jacket. We'll also see our old friend Jack Johnson again as Columbus also looks for its first win of the season.

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)

goalkeeper

For the Jackets we will see Daniil Tarasov in the crease over Elvis Merzlinkins. The Avs return Georgiev and hope to get him back on track after a disappointing first game to start the season.