“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” certainly doesn’t apply to the Colorado Avalanche, who’s current win streak more closely resembles another well-known slogan: “It keeps going, and going, and going…”
Tonight, they look to keep their winning ways going as they return to action with their final regular season visit to Sin City for a return match against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Colorado Avalanche (27-2-7)
The Opponent: Vegas Golden Knights (17-8-10)
Time: 8:00 P.M. MST/10:00 P.M. EST
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Colorado Avalanche
Prior to the League-mandated holiday break, the Avalanche continued their dominance over their Central Division opponents, defeating the Arizona Coyotes Utah Mammoth by a score of 1-0. Sam Girard scored the only goal of the contest after stripping Utah’s Clayton Keller of the puck near the Avalanche bench and putting a highlight-worthy backhand shot up over the shoulder of goaltender Vitek Vaněček in the second period. Scott Wedgewood stopped all 32 shots he faced, including a razor-thin goal-line glove save from Keller that required an extensive review by the officials after the play to determine that the puck never(?) fully crossed the goal line.
The victory over Utah was the Avs’ fourth straight victory over Central Division opponents this month, their sixth consecutive win, and their thirteenth consecutive victory on Ball Arena ice. They also reached 61 points in League standings, which is the most accrued by any NHL team before the holiday break (since the NHL implemented a break for Christmas during the 1972-1973 season). They also tied the League record for the second fewest games (36) to break the 60 point barrier in a season, remaining the undisputed leader in points throughout the Central Division, Western Conference, and League standings.
What does one do with so much winning? Head to Vegas, baby!
Tonight’s game serves as the second game in the three game series against Vegas. During their previous trip to T-Mobile Arena on Halloween, Martin Nečas opened the scoring 0:41 seconds into the game. Brock Nelson and Brent Burns also contributed offensively, while Cale Makar iced the game with an empty net tally to defeat Vegas by a score of 4-2. A victory tonight will ensure that the Avalanche will finish the calendar year with only two regulation losses on the road—their only regulation losses of the season—and accruing points in 18 of 20 road games played to close out 2025.
Nathan MacKinnon remains the League’s goal-scoring leader (30), Cale Makar continues to lead all NHL defenseman in points (43), and Scott Wedgewood has the lowest goals-against average among goaltenders (2.01), while Mackenzie Blackwood ranks fourth (2.16). Both Blackwood and Wedgewood also are tied for second among goaltenders in save percentage (0.924%) behind Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt (0.933%).
The Avs have won their previous three games against Vegas, limiting them to two goals or fewer in those contests.
Hard to bet against those numbers.
Projected Lineup
Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Victor Olofsson – Ross Colton – Gavin Brindley
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Joel Kiviranta
Defense:
Cale Makar – Devon Toews
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Sam Girard – Sam Malinski
Between the Pipes:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas kicked off the 2025 – 2026 regular season with an impressive start in its own right, matching Colorado’s impressive beginning: both clubs had near identical records (Vegas had a 6-1-3 record, while Colorado had a 6-1-4 record) heading into their first head-to-head match in October. Since then, injuries to key personnel have plagued Vegas. Center Jack Eichel, who signed an eight year, $108 million extension with Vegas on October 08, has not played since a 3-2 victory at Columbus on December 13. Defenseman Shea Theodore, who also last played on December 13, has also missed the last four games due to an upper body injury. Captain Mark Stone suffered a wrist injury in a 4-1 loss to Carolina on October 20 and missed 16 games, but has since returned to the lineup. Starting goaltender Adin Hill suffered a lower body injury in the loss to Carolina, and is expected to be out long-term.
The prospect of losing of Hill long term prompted Vegas take action. Vegas, a franchise that is no stranger to controversial roster moves—especially concerning its goaltenders—signed goaltender Carter Hart to a two year, $4 million contract on October 25, eight days after he signed a professional tryout contract with Vegas on October 19. Hart, one of five players on Team Canada’s 2018 World Junior championship roster accused of sexual assault, had previously been declared ineligible to play in the NHL prior to being acquitted in June. Since joining Vegas, Hart has a 4-1-2 record with a 0.904 save percentage.
Mitch Marner, acquired in a sign-and-trade deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in June, ranks second in points (38) behind Eichel (41), while both share the team lead in assists (29). Pavel Dorofeyev and Tomáš Hertl currently lead Vegas in goals (15). On the blue line, Noah Hanifin ranks second in points (11) and time on ice (23:18), while Theodore leads all defenders in both points (20) and time on ice (24:01).
Tonight’s contest is the second of a four game homestand for Vegas at T-Mobile Arena. Currently, Vegas tied with Anaheim and Edmonton in points (44) for the lead in the Pacific Division; however, they do have two games in hand over Anaheim, and three games in hand over Edmonton. Vegas has lost three of its last four games, and is seeking its first victory over Colorado since October 09, 2024, a 8-4 decision.
Ante up.
Projected Lineup
Forwards:
Ivan Barbashev – Mitch Marner – Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev – Tomáš Hertl – Alexander Holtz
Reilly Smith – Brett Howden – Braeden Bowman
Brandon Saad – Colton Sissons – Keegan Kolesar
Defense:
Brayden McNabb – Kayden Korczak
Noah Hanifin – Ben Hutton
Jérémy Lauzon – Zach Whitecloud
Between the Pipes:
Carter Hart
Akira Schmid
