Saturday night's matchup will be a test of depth between the last two Stanley Cup champions.
The Colorado Avalanche are 7-2-0 ahead of Saturday night's matchup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while the Golden Knights have not lost in regulation after 11 games.
The Avs are coming off a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues — which helped them bounce back after two consecutive shutout losses. The win was important for the team but it was a win no matter.
"We were feeling good. Our job is to get wins and we got a win, but it doesn't really feel a whole lot different," Nathan MacKinnon said Thursday.
The Avalanche players' moms were at Ball Arena for the victory and took the road trip with the team to Vegas.
Ryan Johansen said it was important to beat the Blues before heading on the road and was excited about the trip to battle against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
"Great opportunity to see where we're at against a great hockey club," Johansen said. "It's going to be a fun game, especially our moms coming on the trip. We'll hopefully get a win for them."
Colorado is 13-8-1 all-time against the Golden Knights and won two of the three meetings last season. The Avalanche split preseason games against the club this year.
Three keys to the Avalanche's success in the first of three games between the teams this season are:
Defensive zone coverage — Colorado needs to tighten up handling the puck and avoid turnovers in the D-zone.
Solid goaltending — While Alexandar Georgiev posted a .947 save percentage in the three games against Vegas last season, he's had some rest and that could possibly affect his start.
Depth — Vegas has production throughout all four lines as do the Avalanche, but the Avs need to play the full 60 consistently.
This will be NHL game No. 500 for Mikko Rantanen and the 200th game for both Alexandar Georgiev and Ross Colton.
