The Utah Hockey Club make their first visit to Denver since relocating from Arizona and will face a revamped Colorado Avalanche team on Thursday night.
At least part of the team.
Colorado recently turned over its goaltending position, with Justus Annunen and Alexandar Georgiev leaving in separate trades. That netted the Avalanche two new goalies they hope can increase their chances of making a deep playoff run.
Scott Wedgewood was acquired from Nashville on Nov. 30, and Mackenzie Blackwood from San Jose on Tuesday. Wedgewood has started the last two games but will likely serve as Blackwood’s backup once everything is settled.
“With Mackenzie, we feel like he’s just gotten better and better every year,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said. “He’s young. He’s been outstanding in San Jose this year. … We believe there’s some untapped potential in him as he’s growing as a goaltender, but we feel very excited to add him. He’s a big body. He’s athletic. We think he’s stylistically going to fit really well with how we play.”
Colorado didn’t practice Wednesday after returning from a 4-1 road trip that ended in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, so it’s unknown which goaltender will be in net against Utah.
Trading both goaltenders is a risky move but deemed necessary after Georgiev and Annunen were inconsistent this season. The Avalanche have elite-level skaters and are still in a championship window, so finding stability on the back end was vital.
Those elite players have been carrying the load and should continue to do so in the second meeting with Utah. Nathan MacKinnon, despite a recent scoring drought, leads the NHL in points with 46 (10 goals, 36 assists), and Mikko Rantanen was fourth with 42 (18 goals, 24 assists).
Rantanen recorded his third hat trick of the season against Pittsburgh and finished with five points, as did MacKinnon.
Colorado enters Thursday feeling like it has found a groove.
“Yeah, it does,” MacKinnon said when asked if this is what the Avalanche are supposed to look like. “Once we get (Jonathan Drouin) back, we’ll be even better.”
Utah lost the first meeting between these teams 5-1 in Salt Lake City on Oct. 24, but it has played well lately. The Utah Hockey Club are 4-1-2 over their last seven games, succeeding with a mix of veterans and young players.
Captain Clayton Keller leads the team in scoring with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists), and Dylan Guenther has 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists). Utah has 10 players who have recorded double-digit points, including defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (seven goals, 13 assists).
Sergachev was acquired from Tampa Bay in the offseason to solidify the defensive corps. He is a true No. 1 defenseman and leads the team in ice time at 25:27 per game. Getting Sergachev was viewed as an important piece to building a playoff contender.
“He is a top-of-the-line NHL defenseman who can play in just about every style and just about do everything on the ice,” Utah defenseman Ian Cole told ESPN. Cole and Sergachev were teammates in Tampa Bay.
“He’s well put together. He’s strong. He can play hard. He can play skillfully. He can shoot the puck. He can score goals. He can run the power play. He can kill penalties. He can do everything,” Cole said.
