The Colorado Avalanche will meet their division rivals, the Winnipeg Jets, for the first time on Friday night. The Avs come into the game as the top team in the NHL, sitting first with 55 points. Meanwhile, the Jets are 27th and have only 32 points. Colorado may have scored on the power play last game, but they are still sitting at 15.7 percent. If Winnipeg can draw some penalties from the Avs, they may have a better chance with a 20 percent conversion rate on the power play. But goaltending will be key for both sides, with Colorado having the hottest tandem in the NHL and the Jets getting Connor Hellebuyck back from injury this week.

Colorado Avalanche (24–2–7, 55 pts)

The Colorado Avalanche took on the Seattle Kraken in a one-game road trip on Tuesday. As expected, Kraken fans booed throughout the entire game Cale Makar. They started the scoring with a tipped shot by Artturi Lehkonen in the first period. The Kraken answered back with two goals of their own from Shane Wright and Jordan Eberle. But Samuel Girard would have none of it, scoring his first of the season to tie the game. Seattle held the lead at intermission, owing to Chandler Stephenson’s scoring with mere seconds remaining in the second period. Colorado came into the third period angry, scoring three unanswered goals, including a power play goal from Brock Nelson. Colorado secured a 5–3 win, thus expanding the lead for first.

Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Valeri Nichushkin – Brock Nelson – Gabriel Landeskog
Parker Kelly – Ross Colton – Victor Olofsson
Joel Kiviranta – Jack Drury – Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Samuel Girard – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Winnipeg Jets (15–16–2, 32 pts)

Connor Hellebuyck’s knee injury affected the Jets, who struggled as of late. The injury, which kept their starting goaltender out over three weeks, forced their backup in net. During that period, the Jets have fallen in the standings. Winnipeg currently sits five points out of the wild card in the Western Conference. Their last game against the St. Louis Blues was a battle for positioning in the standings. In a game that saw only one goal for the Blues by Justin Faulk, Winnipeg fell 1–0. The Jets saw the penalty box six times, giving the Blues four power play chances and no time for themselves to score.

Projected Lines

Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Gabriel Vilardi
Nino Niederreiter – Vladislav Namestnikov – Cole Perfetti
Morgan Barron – Adam Lowry – Alex Iafallo
Cole Koepke – Jonathan Toews – Gustav Nyquist

Josh Morrissey – Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg – Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley – Luke Schenn

Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie

Game Details

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, KTVD My20, TSN3 (WPG), TVAS (WPG), ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950