Preview: A rematch with the Coyotes in the desert

8 months ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports


Can the Avalanche take two from Arizona?
Following a quick pause for the holidays, the Colorado Avalanche are right back to work with a rematch against a division foe. It hasn’t been easy against the Arizona Coyotes in recent years but the Avalanche would like to build off of the team’s 4-1 win over the Coyotes from last weekend and extend their win streak to three games. Or will they begin to ride the roller coaster of inconsistency yet again?
All eyes will be on Nathan MacKinnon to see if he can extend the league’s longest point streak of the season to 19 games and continue building a month that’s sure to end with recognition in the form of NHL honors. Is this a MVP season in the making?

Colorado Avalanche
With an early morning flight to the desert there won’t be any lineup updates until game time. Is this where Jared Bednar throws in a sneaky surprise? Will Sam Girard get activated in time for the game? If not, the lineup will likely remain unchanged from the last game before the holiday break.
Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Jonathan Drouin
Andrew Cogliano — Ryan Johansen — Logan O’Connor
Joel Kiviranta — Fredrick Olofsson — Kurtis MacDermid
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Bowen Byram — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Sam Malinski

Arizona Coyotes
For their part, the Coyotes are likely to go with their same lineup as they hope to give the Avalanche some payback and hold on to the wild card playoff spot they currently sit in.
Clayton Keller — Alexander Kerfoot — Nick Schmaltz
Matias Maccelli — Nick Bjugstad — Lawson Crouse
Michael Carcone — Jack McBain — Zach Sanford
Liam O’Brien — Logan Cooley — Jason Zucker
J.J. Moser — Mathew Dumba
Sean Durzi — Troy Stetcher
Travis Dermott — Michael Kesselring


Goaltending
After a good performance and several days of rest it would be very surprising to not see Alexander Georgiev back in net for the visitors. After Arizona switched it up on a winning streak and went with Connor Ingram back in Denver, the safe bet would be to expect Karel Vejmelka to get back in the crease and take a shot against Colorado in this rematch. ...

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