[UPDATE: Due to sun issues, the Avalanche vs. Golden Knights game was delayed after the first period. It will resume at midnight ET on NBCSN. You can watch the Avalanche-Golden Knights stream on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.]
This is the first of two games this weekend to be played outdoors at Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. After Saturday’s game between the Golden Saints and the Avalanche, the Flyers and Bruins will face off on Sunday night (7:00 pm Eastern Time, NBCSN)
This will mark the first outdoor game for the Golden Knights and the third game for the Avalanche. Colorado hosted Red Wings at Coors Field in Denver in February 2016 and then hosted Kings last February at the Air Force Academy in Colorado (Avs lost both games).
This is the third of four consecutive meetings between these teams in a nine-day period. They shared their first two meetings on February 14 and 16 and will play again Monday night in Colorado.
Mark Stone leads Vegas with 16 points this season (4G-12A), while Max Pacioretty leads the team with eight goals. The two finished 1-2 at Golden Knights on points last season (66 for Pacioretty, 63 for Stone). Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 15 points this season, but scored only three goals (12A). MacKinnon, who finished as runner-up MVP last season, has scored more than 35 goals and more than 90 points in each of the past three seasons.
Marc-Andre Fleury has stood out this season, winning seven of his first nine matches (7-2-0), posting a GAA of 1.56 and 0.937 SV% with two shutouts. Last season, Fleury lost the title post to Robin Lehner in the playoffs, with Fleury starting just four of the Golden Knights’ 20 postseason games (Lehner started in 16). Lehner then signed a five-year, $ 25M contract with the Golden Knights in October, leading some to believe that Fleury’s Vegas days were numbered. However, Lehner is currently off the pitch due to an upper body injury, allowing Fleury to show that he can still be the number one goalkeeper at age 36.
Cale Makar lost Colorado’s last two games, both against Vegas, due to an upper body injury. The 22-year-old skated in the warmups before the last game on Tuesday, but did not play. Makar, who won the Calder Trophy last season, has 12 points from 11 games this season (1G-11A) and was putting together a streak of five consecutive points before his injury
[AVALANCHE-GOLDEN KNIGHT STREAM RESUMES AT MIDNIGHT ET – NBCSN]
WHAT: Colorado Avalanche vs. Vegas Golden Knights
WHERE: Edgewood Tahoe Resort Golf Course – Stateline, Nevada
WHEN: Saturday, February 20. Coverage resumes at midnight Eastern Time
TV: NBCSN
ON CALL: Mike Tirico, Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher, Rutledge Wood
LIVE BROADCAST: You can watch the Avalanche-Golden Knights broadcast on NBC Sports live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
DESIGNED LINEUPS
AVALANCHE
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad – Nazem Kadri – Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin – JT Compher – Joonas Donskoi
Sheldon Dries – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Jayson Megna
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Bowen Byram – Sam Girard
Conor Timmins – Ryan Graves
Starting goalkeeper: Philipp Grubauer
GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Max Pacioretty – Chandler Stephenson – Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith
Alex Tuch – Cody Glass – Keegan Kolesar
Will Carrier – Nicolas Roy – Ryan Reaves
Alec Martinez – Alex Pietrangelo
Nick Holden – Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague – Zach Whitecloud
Starting goalkeeper: Marc-Andre Fleury