After the NHL holiday break, Colorado hits the road to begin the next stage of this season. It starts tonight in Utah where they take on Hockey Club.

This will be the third and final game of the regular season between these two teams. Utah won the last game 4-1 and the Avalanche won 5-1 in Salt Lake City in October.

Colorado avalanche

Colorado closed the first part of the season before the holiday break on a high note, defeating the Seattle Kraken with a final score of 5-2 thanks to a hat trick from Joel Kiviranta. They travel to Utah tonight to take on Hockey Club and hope to pick up where they left off before the holidays.

To beat Utah, Colorado needs good goaltending and a strong offense this time. Yes, Colorado did get on the scoresheet in their last game, but in the end it happened far too little, too late.

After showing some depth in the last few games, the offense can hopefully come back here tonight and score some goals. They will get some help on defense with the return of Josh Manson from injury.

Projected lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Valeri Nichushkin
Mikko Rantanen – Casey Mittelstadt – Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta – Parker Kelly – Logan O’Connor
Givani Smith – Ivan Ivan – Jere Innala

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Sam Girard-Josh Manson
Calvin De Haan – Sam Malinski

Utah Hockey Club

Utah comes into this game having lost two straight games before the holiday break. They are also trying to push for a playoff spot as they are currently in fifth place in the Central Division.

While this team may not be an elite contender just yet, there’s no denying that there’s nothing to sneeze at right now. There’s no doubt they have top-notch talent on their roster, with players like Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley among the Hockey Club’s league leaders. They’ve also been showing some good goalkeeping lately, which has certainly helped them up to this point in the year.

Projected lines

Clayton Keller – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz
Jack McBain – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther
Matias Maccelli – Nick Bjugstad – Lawson Crouse
Michael Carcone – Kevin Stenlund – Alex Kerfoot

Mikhail Sergachev – Olli Maatta
Ian Cole – Michael Kesselring
Juuso Valimaki – Vladislav Kolyachonok

goalkeeper

Tonight it will likely be a newly extended Mackenzie Blackwood in net for Colorado. This is the first time the Avs will face Utah, as Scott Wedgewood started the last game between these two teams.

Opposite him, Karel Vejmelka is likely to start for Utah. Colorado faced it in the last game and couldn’t solve it until it was too little, too late. They’re going to have to find a way to get the pucks past him early tonight if they want to come away with a win here tonight.