The Avalanche are undefeated after thwarting the LA Kings in their own barn, and now it\u2019s time for the home opener at Ball Arena. The Utah Mammoth and their new brand hope to spoil Colorado\u2019s home debut in the first game of their regular season. Will the Mammoth survive the storm of a frenzied crowd and seemingly loaded Avalanche team? The hype is real, and the thunder rolls.<\/p>\n
Colorado Avalanche: 1-0-0<\/p>\n
The Opponent: Utah Mammoth 0-0-0<\/p>\n
Watch: Altitude, Altitude+<\/p>\n
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM<\/p>\n
We got our first glimpse of Bednar\u2019s vision for the forward group on Tuesday, which featured a young Gavin Brindley but surprisingly no Zakhar Bardakov, who appeared to be a shoo-in after camp. Bardakov may get the young guy spot tonight, but things went so well against LA that you almost wonder if Bednar lets it ride.
When I say the things went well for Colorado on Tuesday, that\u2019s almost putting it lightly. The Kings aren\u2019t presenting as a perennial powerhouse, but what impressed me was the defensive accomplishment Colorado stunted in the second period, all starting with Josh Manson\u2019s thunderous hit on Warren Foegele. They were quick to loose pucks and excellent at forcing turnovers in the neutral zone. Colorado\u2019s reputation as a gritty and stingy defensive team would, in my opinion, further validate Stanley Cup aspirations.<\/p>\n
On top of that, we saw a two-goal performance from Martin Necas, a vintage Lehky goal off the magic of Makar, and Nathan MacKinnon distributing the puck like Nikola Jokic does the basketball, all on national television.<\/p>\n
Coach Bednar had this to say regarding Cale Makar\u2019s move on the blue line, \u201cWhoa.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said it during the game that one thing is for sure \u2014this team is fun.<\/p>\n
I think Wedgewood would have gotten a shutout in the first game if not for Brandt Clarke\u2019s third-period antics. MacKinnon took a penalty, sticking up for Lehkonen, who Clarke cross-checked dangerously. Shortly after, Manson went off for the same reason, and LA cashed in on the 5-on-3. Otherwise, Scott was brilliant and proved plenty capable of manning the helm while MacKenzie Blackwood gets squared away. He should get the start again tonight.<\/p>\n
Artturi Lehkonen \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon \u2014 Martin Necas
Gabe Landeskog \u2014 Brock Nelson \u2014 Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton \u2014 Jack Drury \u2014 Viktor Olofsson
Joel Kiviranta \u2014 Parker Kelly \u2014 Gavin Brindley
Devon Toews \u2014 Cale Makar
Sam Girard \u2014 Josh Manson
Sam Malinski \u2014 Brent Burns<\/p>\n
Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner<\/p>\n
The UHC will forever be known as the Utah Mammoth as of this season, and the Avalanche will be throwing them a bizarre welcome party. So glad you could make it! Over here, we have the world\u2019s most electrifying forward for you to keep track of. If you\u2019d like to enjoy a dose of Norris Calliber defending, please see Cale Makar. If you\u2019re looking for exemplary leadership and character, Gabe Landeskog is the one to watch. Don\u2019t like any of that? Too bad!<\/p>\n
All jokes aside, the Mammoth have made blips on some pundits\u2019 radar as a potential dark-horse playoff team.<\/p>\n
They have the bones of the Arizona Coyotes squad from a few years ago, but have since added some young and promising talent. That talent has raised expectations in Utah, who will have to do their best to stay in the hunt while playing in arguably the league\u2019s most competitive division.<\/p>\n
The Mammoth may have found their netminder in Karel Vejmelka, who has been in the Coyotes\/Utah system since 2021 after playing Czech hockey for five years. Last season was by far his most successful in North America, in which he posted a 2.58 GAA and 9.04 SV%.<\/p>\n
Playing the Avalanche will prove to be a litmus test for the Mammoth and could pose a real opportunity for springboarding their season early on. Will they send the rest of the Central an early statement?<\/p>\n
Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek<\/p>\n
Barrett Hayton and Kevin Stenlund both have a \u201cgame-time decision\u201d status.<\/p>\n
Opening night at Ball Arena is finally here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Avalanche are undefeated after thwarting the LA Kings in their own barn, and now it\u2019s time for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,5,4,1346],"class_list":{"0":"post-240320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-coloradoavalanche","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-open-threads"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115362944289599482","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}