The Colorado Avalanche snapped a ten-game winning streak but will look to start a new one against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both teams will play without key members of their squads. Tampa is without defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh while the Avs are down Gabriel Landeskog, Devon Toews and Mackenzie Blackwood. The 2022 Stanley Cup rematch always brings an exciting game to the table, but it will be the first missed game for the Avs captain this season, putting an end to his perfect season.

Colorado Avalanche (31–3–7, 69 pts)

The Avalanche suffered their first regulation loss on Sunday night since December 4th against the New York Islanders. The Florida Panthers played Colorado in the second game of back-to-back games on Sunday. Florida, who was working with a day’s rest, controlled the game from the start. Team Canada snub Sam Bennett broke through in the first for Florida. In the second, captain Gabriel Landeskog toe-picked on the rush to the net. He lost his balance and hit the goal mount hard in the ribs. The injury was to his upper body, so he did not return. The Avalanche found it hard to gain any momentum after losing Landeskog, with the only goal coming from Artturi Lehkonen. Aaron Ekblad had a nice slap shot that made its way past Scott Wedgewood and sealed the deal.

Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Ross Colton – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Gavin Brindley – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Zakhar Bardakov – Parker Kelly – Taylor Makar

Samuel Girard – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

Tampa Bay Lightning (25–13–3, 53 pts)

On Saturday, the Lightning played the San Jose Sharks, winning 7–3. Tampa has been on a roll themselves, winning seven in a row. Two of the victories have come with former Avalanche Jonas Johansson in the net. On Saturday, the game saw two hat tricks from each side. Both of them would be the player’s first career NHL hat trick. Defenseman Darren Raddysh, who has seen more playing time with Victor Hedman out, had one, and Pavol Regenda of the Sharks had one. Colorado Eagles’ fans know Regenda well as he has been a thorn in the side of the Eagles with the San Jose Barracuda for some time.

Projected Lines

Gage Goncalves – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Jake Guentzel
Zemgus Girgensons – Yanni Gourde – Pontus Holmberg
Nick Paul – Dominic James – Oliver Bjorkstrand

J.J. Moser – Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D’Astous – Erik Cernak
Declan Carlile – Maxwell Crozier

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Game Details

Time: 5:00 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, The Spot (TBL), ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950