Colorado Avalanche Gameday: Arizona trying to bring the heat to town

The Colorado Avalanche welcome the Arizona Coyotes to town for the first time this season, in a division rivalry matchup with the Yotes’s move to the Central this season. It hasn’t been a nice transition for them, and the Avs will look to make it worse for them tonight.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avs are coming off their first loss in almost a month, a controversial 5-4 OT loss away to the Nashville Predators. The fanbase has been very irritated with the incorrect too many men on the ice call on the Avs that ultimately lead to the defeat.

With that being said, the players haven’t taken it lightly either. At practice this week, several players came out frustrated and feeling that they were called out incorrectly. The Avs will be playing angry the next two days.

All Star Captain Nathan MacKinnon is a huge threat when he and his team play angry. He will certainly try to get the Avs back in the win column playing angry and at the top of his game.

Forwards

Valeri Nichushkin (13) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)

Andre Burakovsky (95) - Nazem Kadri (91) - Logan O’Connor (25)

Nicolas Aube-Kubel (16) - Alex Newhook (18) - J.T. Compher (37)

Kurtis MacDermid (56) - Tyson Jost (17) - Mikhail Maltsev (11)

Defenders

Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)

Jack Johnson (3) - Sam Girard (49)

Ryan Murray (28) - Erik Johnson (6)

Arizona Coyotes

The Coyotes are the bottom feeders of the Central Division, only recording eight wins three months into the season. One of these eight wins came in incredible fashion, upsetting the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 at home on Wednesday.

There aren’t many good stories coming out of the desert. With arena issues, no real number one net minder to replace Darcy Kuemper, and injuries such as former Av Conor Timmins out for the year after a short playing time this season.

Veteran Phil Kessel is sticking it out with the Coyotes, and look to lead to another upset victory against a high scoring team tonight on the road before returning home tomorrow night.

Forwards

Lawson Crouse (67) - Johan Larsson (22) - Phil Kessel (81)

Andrew Ladd (16) - Travis Boyd (72) - Clayton Keller (9)

Antoine Roussel (26) - Riley Nash (20) - Christian Fischer (36)

Ryan Dzingel (10) - Alex Galchenyuk (17) - Nick Schmaltz (8)

Defenders

Shayne Gositsbehere (14) - Dysin Mayo (61)

Janis Moser (62) - Ilya Lyubushkin (46)

Vladislav Kolyachonok (92) - Victor Soderstrom (77)

Goaltenders

Pavel Francouz gets the start in the first of this back-to-back series against the Coyotes, giving Kuemper the opportunity to play in his return to Arizona. The Coyotes point to Ivan Prosvetov in relief of Karel Vejmelka who will go tomorrow night when these two meet again.