There are two games on the NBCSN schedule Wednesday as the Colorado Avalanche are in St. Louis to take on the Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Los Angeles Kings in the late game.
Editor’s Note: The Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues face off Wednesday on NBCSN starting at 7:00 pm ET. Livestream all the action here.
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COLORADO AT ST. LOUIS
The Colorado Avalanche come into this game as the best team in the NHL.
They are led by the best line in hockey, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog who have combined for 96 points since March 1. They each have 32 points in that span, the best in the NHL, two better than Sidney Crosby and three ahead of Connor McDavid. Rantanen has been the goal-scorer of the bunch with a league-leading 17 markers since March 1.
But that is not all the Avs have up front as they are also getting plenty of scoring from Joonas Donskoi, Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, Brandon Saad and Valeri Nichuskin. They added Carl Soderberg Monday at the trade deadline and don’t be surprised if the 35-year-old ends up centering the third line.
Their blueline is also so talented with Devon Toews and Samuel Girard on the first unit with sophomore great Cale Makar and Ryan Graves leading the second unit. Throw in the injured rookie Bowen Byram and you see why the Avs will challenge for the Stanley Cup for many years.
They are also strong in net as Philipp Grubauer is tied with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy in wins with 25 while both have a 2.00 GAA. Grubauer was shaky last week in giving up seven goals on 18 shots to Minnesota but rebounded nicely Monday to stop 35-of-37 shots in a win over Arizona. The Avs picked up Devan Dubnyk on the weekend and he will provide the Avalanche with a good, veteran backup goaltender, the one thing that was lacking with Colorado.
The Blues have righted themselves of late, winning three in a row and regaining the fourth and final spot in the West Division playoff race.
After a tough stretch, goaltender Jordan Binnington seems to have righted the ship as he as won his last two games, giving up one goal in each as he stopped 50 shots in a win over Vegas before turning aside 24 in a victory over Minnesota Friday. The Blues need Binnington to be at his best to have any chance of doing some damage in the playoffs. Ville Husso is his backup but do not expect to see a lot of him down the stretch, unless the Blues clinch a playoff spot.
Ryan O’Reilly has been terrific in the last two games as he as four goals and five points including a hat trick over the Wild Friday. He centers the top line with David Perron and Sammy Blais on his wings. Perron still leads the Blues in points with 40.
Mike Hoffman was a healthy scratch last week but returned to action Saturday and it paid off for St. Louis as he had a pair in a 3-2 victory over Minnesota. He will give the Blues some scoring from the third line.
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St. Louis needs to get their second line going as big things were expected out of Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz. Schenn has 12 goals and 28 points in 41 games but has not found the back of the net in 15 games. Tarasenko has only three goals and 10 points in 17 games since returning from off-season shoulder surgery while Schwartz has two goals and five points in 12 games since returning from a lower-body injury that cost him 15 games.
The blueline has Torey Krug, a revitalized Justin Faulk, Vince Dunn and a returning Colton Parayko who is likely the Blues best defenseman when healthy.
Probable Colorado Lineup
Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky-Nazem Kadri-Valeri Nichushkin
Brandon Saad-Carl Soderberg-Joonas Donskoi
Tyson Jost-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-J.T. Compher
Keaton Middleton-Jacob MacDonald
Probable St. Louis Lineup
Sammy Blais -Ryan O’Reilly-David Perron
Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Vladimir Tarasenko
Zach Sanford-Tyler Bozak- Mike Hoffman
Kyle Clifford-Ivan Barbashev- Jordan Kyrou
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VEGAS AT LOS ANGELES
Editor’s Note: The Los Angeles Kings host the Vegas Golden Knights Wednesday on NBCSN starting at 10:00 pm ET. Livestream all the action here.
The Vegas Golden Knights have the best goalkeeping in the NHL with Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner. Lehner was slated to be the starter in training camp but an injury and an outstanding start to the season by the veteran Fleury has allowed Vegas to use both an equal amount of late.
Lehner got the start against Los Angeles on Monday and stopped 26 shots so look for Fleury who is coming off a 14-save shutout over Arizona on Saturday, to get the start. It was his fifth shutout of the season.
Alex Pietrangelo was the big off-season signing, inking an eight-year/$61.6 million deal but he has not lived up to the package, at least to start the season. An upper-body injury and COVID have kept him out of the lineup and he has only two assists in eight games since returning from the injury.
The blueline has been led by Shea Theodore as he ha six goals and 32 points as well as a plus-18 rating. Alex Martinez has also been playing well with seven goals and 15 assists in 40 games.
Up front, Max Pacioretty is scoring like the Golden Knights had hoped for when they dealt for him from Montreal. He has already hit the 20-goal mark and his 17 assists in 39 games have set him up for a good finish.
The star of the Golden Knight skaters is Mark Stone. He is a strong two-way player who leads Vegas with 44 points including 13 goals. Chandler Stephenson has played quite well between Pacioretty and Stone.
The Golden Knights picked up Mattias Janmark from Chicago and he should fit in nicely on the third line with Alex Tuch. Both are speedy wingers (Tuch could be as fast as Connor McDavid) and the duo could make things very difficult for their opponents.
The Kings only made one trade at the deadline as they sent veteran center Jeff Carter to Pittsburgh for a couple of draft picks. The move will help their future as the Kings have the best farm system in the NHL and the move will allow Los Angeles the freedom to start a young prospect the rest of this season and into 2021-22.
The Kings are led by Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, two veterans from their Stanley Cup days. Kopitar has 43 points in 41 games, while Brown leads LA with 16 goals, nine of which have come with the man-advantage. The third member of the first line, Alex Iafallo, inked a four-year/$16 million deal just before the trade deadline and averted the possibility of getting traded.
The Kings also have Adrian Kempe at forward. His 13 goals are second-best on the Kings. There is not a lot on the rest of the forward brigade but there are plenty of up-and-comers including Quinten Byfield, Samuel Fagemo, Arthur Kaliyev, Rasmus Kupari and Alex Turcotte.
The blue line is headed up by veteran Drew Doughty who has bounced back this season with eight goals and 30 points in 41 games. There is not a lot on the Kings blueline, although Tobias Bjornfot has a lot of promise.
The goaltending features Cal Petersen and Jonathan Quick. Quick has been the starter since the 2008-09 season but Petersen has come on since late last season and is considered the number one goaltender at this time in Los Angeles. Petersen gave up four goals on 41 shots Monday to Vegas in the 4-2 loss, so expect Quick on Wednesday.
Probable Vegas Lineup
Max Pacioretty-Chandler Stephenson-Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith
Mattias Janmark -Tomas Nosek-Alex Tuch
William Carrier-Nicolas Roy-Tomas Jurco
Brayden McNabb-Alex Pietrangelo
Probable Los Angeles Lineup
Alex Iafallo-Anze Kopitar-Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe-Jaret Anderson-Dolan-Trevor Moore
Carl Grundstrom-Blake Lizotte-Andreas Athanasiou
