Game 1 Preview: Colorado Avalanche take on the Vegas Golden Knights in season opener

The Colorado Avalanche open their season against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas on Wednesday night.

The Avs will deploy their star-studded lineup led by Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon and top blueliner Cale Makar. Alexandar Georgiev will likely get the nod in the crease for the season opener.

The Avs will be looking to get revenge on the Golden Knights as their previous preseason meeting didn’t go well for Colorado. The Avs were on the receiving end of a 6-1 pounding. Granted, the Avs did not have the full regulars in the lineup.

This time around, Vegas will need to contend with the Avs’ full firepower. The top line of MacKinnon alongside Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin will be hard to stop for Vegas. Similarly, a relatively new-look second line featuring Casey Mittelstadt with Nikolai Kovalenko and rookie Calum Ritchie will draw plenty of attention.

For Ritchie, in particular, he’ll be making his official NHL debut. Expectations are high, especially when considering Ritchie’s enormous ceiling.

Also, Sam Malinski should be in the lineup alongside Calvin de Haan on the third defensive pairing. Malinski had an impressive camp, forcing the Avs to keep him on the club. Malinski’s emergence made Erik Brannstrom expendable while pushing summer free-agent signing Oliver Kylington down the depth chart.

Lastly, Ivan Ivan should get into the lineup on the fourth line. Ivan was another training camp standout. He pushed himself into the lineup, muscling other potential hopefuls out like Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

Overall, the Avs should have a great season opener, hopefully grabbing their first win of the season.

Expected line combinations and defense pairings for the Colorado Avalanche’s season opener

Projected line combos

Daily Faceoff projects the following line combos for the Colorado Avalanche’s season opener:

- Drouin-MacKinnon-Rantanen
- Kovalenko-Mittelstadt-Ritchie
- Wood-Colton-O’Connor
- Ivan-Kelly-Kiviranta

Chris Wagner figures to be the 13th forward, though he was officially reassigned to the Colorado Eagles. It was mostly a paper transaction for cap-compliance purposes.

Projected defense pairings and starting goalie

Here’s a look at the defense pairings:

- Toews-Makar
- Girard-Manson
- De Haan-Malinski

Kylington and waiver pickup John Ludvig project as the seventh and eighth blueliners.

Alexandar Georgiev should get the start with Justus Annunen as the backup.

Injury report

As for the injury report, Artturi Lehkonen will most likely be out for the rest of October. Reports suggest he will be reevaluated at the end of the month. A potential timeline could be set at that point.

Captain Gabe Landeskog has been officially placed on LTIR, according to PuckPedia. His cap hit comes off the books, giving the Avs some additional wiggle room to sort out any potential additions. Similarly, newly-acquired Tucker Poolman was placed on LTIR. His $2 million cap hit also comes off the books for Colorado.

There is no timeline for both Landeskog nor Poolman’s return to the lineup.