The Colorado Avalanche will roll into the second half of a back-to-back on Sunday afternoon in Sunrise, Florida. Colorado made history on Saturday by being the only team to reach its 40th game with only two regulation losses. Fans also found out that Joel Kiviranta did not travel with the team, along with goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.

Colorado Avalanche (31–2–7, 69 pts)

Saturday night for the Avalanche looked like it was going to be a disaster to start. They played the Carolina Hurricanes, and they got the scoring started with a shorthanded goal from Sebastian Aho. Gabriel Landeskog answered back in the second period, but the Canes came right back with two more. That is when the avalanche came down the mountain. Colorado came back with three goals of its own, two of them on the man advantage by Brock Nelson. The Avalanche not only fought adversity, they kicked it to the ground on Saturday.

Projected Lines

Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Zakhar Bardakov – Parker Kelly – Taylor Makar

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Samuel Girard – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

Florida Panthers (21–16–3, 45 pts)

Friday evening, the Panthers’ contest morphed into a grim experience. Florida played in the Winter Classic against the New York Rangers, and it did not go well. The Panthers managed only one goal to the Rangers’ five, and it was not close the entire game. Mika Zibanejad of New York had two assists while adding the first hat trick in Winter Classic history to his resume. The Panthers have been struggling to stay in the wild-card race without Matthew Tkachuk in the lineup. He has not played in a single game this season after he had surgery to repair a sports hernia and a torn adductor muscle. An injury that he played with through the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Projected Lines

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Luke Kunin – Jack Studnicka

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Uvis Balinskis
Donovan Sebrango – Jeff Petry

Sergei Bobrovsky
Daniil Tarasov

Game Details

Time: 3:00 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, SCRIPPS (FLA), ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950