As Mariah Carey has famously said time and time again: it's tiiiiiiiime!
And no, not for Christmas. Hockey season is BACK! Well, officially, anyway.
Opening night is upon us, and the Colorado Avalanche will play in one of three matchups to open the 2025-26 regular season. Tonight, the Los Angeles Kings host the Avalanche at Crypto.com Arena.
This is the first of three matchups against the Kings, the second game coming at home on December 29th, and the finale coming on March 2nd on the road.
Roster Updates
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who has been rehabilitating a lower-body injury for the latter part of the summer and up to now, will not be traveling with the team to LA, per Head Coach Jared Bednar, following practice on Monday. He did practice on Monday, but left early.
Scott Wedgewood will likely get the start in net for the Avalanche tonight, with Trent Miner backing up.
Defenseman Samuel Girard, though, who was also dealing with an injury prior to the final preseason game on Saturday, October 4th, will be traveling with the team and is expected to play.
Tonight's game will also showcase the regular-season return of captain Gabriel Landeskog. He made an appearance in last season's playoff series against the Dallas Stars, but after three season of recovery and rehabilitation, he is expected to play a full season and captain the deep team the front office has built through a run to the Stanley Cup.
The last time he touched the ice during the regular season with teammates Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon was March 10th, 2022.
Finally, it seems that the hole at 3C has been, for the most part, filled. None other than Jack Drury will occupy that spot to start the season. When experimenting with the position through training camp and preseason, Coach Bednar went as far as to say Drury had a "leg up" on the rest of his competition for the spot.
Because he's an elite 4C, in my opinion, he had a leg up on that position coming into camp, especially knowing that I'd like to keep [Ross] Colton on the wing and play on the third line. We saw [Parker] Kelly at center, [Zakhar] Bardakov, Drury, and Colton...He's a rock-solid defender, I think he's got more upside to his offensive game than we've seen, even here. And sometimes, it just takes a little boost with the guys that you're playing with, a guy like [Victor] Olofsson, a guy like Colton. I think he can get in a mixer and help us create some offense, it's why he won the job.- Coach Bednar on Drury winning the 3C Sweepstakes
When/Where/How to Watch the Game:
Puck Drop: 8:50 PM Mountain Time / 7:50 PM Pacific Time
TV Broadcast: ESPN (National Broadcast)
Local Radio Broadcast:
- Colorado: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM
- Los Angeles: ESPN LA 710 AM
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