{"id":411937,"date":"2026-01-17T02:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/411937\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T02:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:51:12","slug":"game-preview-avs-aim-to-re-assert-home-ice-dominance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/411937\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview: Avs Aim to Re-Assert Home-Ice Dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DENVER \u2014\u00a0Colorado Avalanche (33-4-8) welcome the Nashville Predators (22-20-4) to Ball Arena this evening.<\/p>\n<p>It always felt inevitable that the Avalanche would hit a bump at some point, especially given their torrid pace and a growing list of injuries. That moment arrived earlier this week when Colorado fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime, snapping a 17-game home winning streak.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>There was, however, some positive news on the health front. Starting goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood was activated off injured reserve earlier this week, providing a boost to Colorado\u2019s crease as the schedule tightens.<\/p>\n<p>Captain Gabe Landeskog remains in week two of a projected six-to-eight-week recovery timeline after suffering broken ribs. While his return date could shift, the organization appears content to prioritize a full recovery before reintroducing its captain into the lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Nathan MacKinnon continues his pursuit of franchise history. With 36 goals already this season and 37 games remaining, MacKinnon needs 22 more to surpass Michel Goulet\u2019s Avalanche record for goals in a single campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado has also enjoyed recent success against Nashville, going 3-1-1 in their last five meetings. MacKinnon has been a driving force in those games, posting eight points (four goals, four assists) during that stretch.<\/p>\n<p>Artturi Lehkonen \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon \u2014 Martin Necas<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Ross Colton \u2014 Brock Nelson \u2014 Valeri Nichushkin<\/p>\n<p>Parker Kelly \u2014 Jack Drury \u2014 Victor Olofsson<\/p>\n<p>Zakhar Bardakov \u2014 Ivan Ivan \u2014 Gavin Brindley<\/p>\n<p>Sam Malinski \u2014 Cale Makar<\/p>\n<p>Josh Manson \u2014 Brent Burns<\/p>\n<p>Ilya Solovyov \u2014 Samuel Girard<\/p>\n<p>MacKenzie Blackwood<\/p>\n<p>Scott Wedgewood<\/p>\n<p>The Predators possess a capable offensive group, but defensive inconsistencies have plagued them throughout the season. Nashville has surrendered 151 goals, the sixth-most in the Western Conference, and while their 129 goals scored are serviceable, extended time spent defending in their own zone has made it difficult to generate sustained offensive momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>As always, Ryan O\u2019Reilly\u2019s matchup against the team that drafted him adds intrigue. Speculation about a potential reunion with Colorado continues to circulate, keeping his name firmly in the rumor mill.<\/p>\n<p>Filip Forsberg \u2014 Ryan O\u2019Reilly \u2014 Luke Evangelista<\/p>\n<p>Michael Bunting \u2014 Erik Haula \u2014 Steven Stamkos<\/p>\n<p>Tyson Jost \u2014 Fedor Svechkov \u2014 Matthew Wood<\/p>\n<p>Reid Schaefer \u2014 Michael McCarron \u2014 Cole Smith<\/p>\n<p>Roman Josi \u2014 Nick Perbix<\/p>\n<p>Brady Skjei \u2014 Adam Wilsby<\/p>\n<p>Justin Barron \u2014 Nick Blankenburg<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Juuse Saros<\/p>\n<p>Justus Annunen<\/p>\n<p>Game Night<\/p>\n<p>As always, stay tuned to The Hockey News for full coverage and updates throughout the evening. Enjoy the game.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Image\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dd0d56ff3fa45933e78e6508ee14ddaa.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Image<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014\u00a0Colorado Avalanche (33-4-8) welcome the Nashville Predators (22-20-4) to Ball Arena this evening. It always felt inevitable&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5116],"tags":[19341,2320,193,1711,1772,1034,1116,17763,192,144,5277,6697,7925,3577,1035,18209,5,11999,11383,515,1544,4168,4156,1500,9245,1123,513,4516,12137,1708,231,517,4,19340,4009,6295,18070,1501,1351,3671,4520,1340,2565,1489,31,8433,3922,3699,18398],"class_list":{"0":"post-411937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-adam-wilsby","9":"tag-artturi-lehkonen","10":"tag-avalanche","11":"tag-brady-skjei","12":"tag-brent-burns","13":"tag-brock-nelson","14":"tag-cale-makar","15":"tag-cole-smith","16":"tag-colorado","17":"tag-colorado-avalanche","18":"tag-coloradoavalanche","19":"tag-erik-haula","20":"tag-fedor-svechkov","21":"tag-filip-forsberg","22":"tag-gabe-landeskog","23":"tag-gavin-brindley","24":"tag-hockey","25":"tag-ilya-solovyov","26":"tag-ivan-ivan","27":"tag-jack-drury","28":"tag-josh-manson","29":"tag-justin-barron","30":"tag-justus-annunen","31":"tag-juuse-saros","32":"tag-luke-evangelista","33":"tag-mackenzie-blackwood","34":"tag-martin-necas","35":"tag-matthew-wood","36":"tag-michael-bunting","37":"tag-michael-mccarron","38":"tag-nashville-predators","39":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","40":"tag-nhl","41":"tag-nick-blankenburg","42":"tag-nick-perbix","43":"tag-parker-kelly","44":"tag-reid-schaefer","45":"tag-roman-josi","46":"tag-ross-colton","47":"tag-ryan-oreilly","48":"tag-sam-malinski","49":"tag-samuel-girard","50":"tag-scott-wedgewood","51":"tag-steven-stamkos","52":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","53":"tag-tyson-jost","54":"tag-valeri-nichushkin","55":"tag-victor-olofsson","56":"tag-zakhar-bardakov"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411937","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=411937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}