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As the saying goes, remember, remember the fifth of November. The Avs hope that they will remember November fifth as the day they secured their fifth win of the season, as well as their first set of consecutive victories of the season. After putting out the Flames in the third period on Tuesday, the Avs need to pull together some victories if they want any chance of gaining ground in the Central division. The Avs have put away the two teams below them in the Western conference standings, now they need to start beating the teams ahead of them. First off, the Arizona Coyotes Thursday night.
The Coyotes have quietly been exceeding expectations so far this season. While a .500 record is nothing to brag about, the team that finished with the second worse record last season and missed out on the coveted top two players at the draft was not expected to be doing as well as they have. A lot of that has to do with the play of great young players like Max Domi and Anthony Duclair. At just 20 years old, Domi, the 12th pick in the 2013 NHL draft has been lighting the lamp in his first NHL season and leads the Coyotes with 11 points. Domi is tied for the team lead in goals (five) with fellow 20 year old, Anthony Duclair. Duclair is one of the jewels from the Coyotes trade of Keith Yandle to the Rangers (the Avs Friday night opponent). Duclair was a third round draft pick, but impressed enough to make his way onto the Rangers roster for a bit before being traded to Arizona. These two bright stars are spouting some optimism for the future of the Coyotes organization.
LINES
Tanguay-MacKinnon-Iginla
Landeskog-Soderberg-Duchene
Everberg-Street-Skille
McLeod-Grigorenko-Comeau
Beauchemin-Johnson
Holden-Barrie
Stuart-Gormley
Varlamov
Berra
Scratches: Guenin, Zadorov, Mitchell.
NOTES
- This will be Brandon Gormley's first game against his former team. The 23 year old defenseman was acquired for Stefan Elliot this summer.
- Despite the young talent on both of the squads, Thursday night's match-up is actually a match-up of the two teams with the highest average age in the NHL; the Avalanche (1st) and the Coyotes (T-2nd).
- After a three point night on Tuesday, Nathan MacKinnon is now part of a ten player tie for eighth place in the NHL in points. Former Avalanche, Ryan O'Reilly is also part of that tie.
GAME INFO
Game time: 7pm MT
TV: ALT2