The 30th regular-season outdoor game in NHL history, and last of three in 2019-20, will pit the Avalanche (33-17-6, 72 points) against the Kings (20-33-5, 45 points) at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs. This will be the second outdoor game for Colorado and third for Los Angeles, with each club having played host once before – to the two warmest outdoor games on record, in fact. The Avalanche lost to the Red Wings in the 2016 NHL Stadium Series game at Coors Field, which had a game-time temperature of 65°F/18°C. That eclipsed the puck-drop temperature of 62°F/17°C for the 2014 NHL Stadium Series game between the Kings and Ducks at Dodger Stadium. The game will be played at 6,621 feet above sea level, a record for an NHL regular-season outdoor game – surpassing the previous figure of 5,200-foot elevation from the 2016 game at Coors Field in Denver. This stats pack includes current storylines for the Avalanche and Kings. The 2020 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series Information Guide is available for registered users on the NHL’s media site. Colorado Avalanche * Exactly one month ago Saturday, after four straight losses (0-2-2), the Avalanche sat 12 points behind the Western Conference-leading Blues. Colorado has an 8-2-0 record since then to rank tied for third in the NHL over that span with 16 points, narrowing St. Louis’ division/conference lead to two points. * An Avalanche victory Saturday paired with a Blues loss against the Predators would propel Colorado into first place in both the Central Division and Western Conference – positions St. Louis has held since earning its 20th win of the season Dec. 14 (63 consecutive days, including Friday, Feb. 14). Aside from two days in December when the Avalanche were the No. 1 seed, the Blues have sat atop the two standings since the start of November (104 of 106 days). * Colorado is in pursuit of its third straight playoff appearance – a feat last achieved over an 11-season run from 1994-95 to 2005-06 that included one appearance as the Nordiques and two Stanley Cup wins. * The Avalanche claimed their last division title in 2013-14, Nathan MacKinnon’s rookie season and Gabriel Landeskog’s second as captain. It has been 19 years since they finished the regular season atop the Western Conference – they posted the best record in franchise history in 2000-01, claiming both the Presidents’ Trophy and Stanley Cup. * Nathan MacKinnon (32-48—80 in 56 GP) notched two points Thursday to become the fifth different player in franchise history to reach the 80-point mark within his first 56 games of a season. He joined Joe Sakic as just the second player to do so in an Avalanche uniform. * MacKinnon enters his second career outdoor game with an active six-game point streak (2-6—8) and multiple points in each of his last two contests. He has been held off the score sheet only 10 times in 56 games this season, going consecutive games without a point only once (Nov. 2 at ARI & Nov. 5 at DAL). * Aiming for a third straight multi-point game for the third time this season, MacKinnon enters Friday with the third-most multi-point games in the NHL this season (Leon Draisaitl: 27 & David Pastrnak: 25). * Cale Makar (12-30—42 in 48 GP) already holds the franchise records for goals and points by a rookie defenseman in a single season. He needs one assist to match the club record for assists in one season by a rookie blueliner – Bruce Bell had 31 in 1984-85 when the club was based in Quebec. * Since 1993-94, only five rookie defensemen have scored more goals in a single season than Makar has through 48 games. That dates to five years before he was born. * Did You Know? Defenseman Barry Beck scored 22 goals as a rookie for the Colorado Rockies in 1977-78. That stands as the second-highest single-season total by a rookie defenseman in NHL history. * Andre Burakovsky had 1-1—2 against his former team Thursday to set a career high in goals (18) and extend career highs in assists (25) and points (43). Only two offseason acquisitions have more points than him this season: Artemi Panarin (29-47—76 w/ NYR) and J.T. Miller (22-35—57 w/ VAN). Colorado has three of the top 10 goal-scorers in 2019-20 among players acquired in the offseason. * The Avalanche roster includes only three players who skated in the 2016 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series: forwards MacKinnon and Landeskog along with defenseman Erik Johnson. Mikko Rantanen had played only six NHL games at the time, all in October 2015 (including one against the Kings on Oct. 18), before rejoining the club for three games in March 2016. Los Angeles Kings * The Kings roster remains somewhat intact from its last outdoor experience, with seven players who skated in the 2015 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series: forwards Anze Kopitar, Trevor Lewis, Dustin Brown, Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter; defenseman Drew Doughty; and goaltender Jonathan Quick. * Doughty (116-379—495) recently passed current Kings general manager – and former Avalanche defenseman – Rob Blake for the most regular-season points by a defenseman in franchise history. Blake also ranks fifth in career points among Avalanche/Nordiques defensemen. Doughty sits five points shy of becoming the 25th defenseman in NHL history to accumulate 500 career points for a single franchise. * Quick is one of 13 goaltenders to start in multiple regular-season outdoor games, with only three netminders having more such starts (Henrik Lundqvist: 4; Corey Crawford: 4; and Ty Conklin: 3). * Quick holds a career record of 17-6-1 in 25 games against the Avalanche, tied for his highest win total against an opponent from a different division (also 17-12-3 in 32 GP vs. DAL). Overall, he has more than 17 career regular season wins against only four clubs (EDM: 23, ANA: 22, ARI: 19, VAN: 18). * Quick (1-1-0 outdoors) can become the fifth goaltender with multiple regular-season wins in outdoor games (Lundqvist: 4-0-0, Braden Holtby: 2-0-0, Craig Anderson: 2-0-0 and Conklin: 2-1-0). Colorado Connections A look at the journeys of Cale Makar, 21, and Alex Iafallo, 26, key players on the Avalanche and Kings, respectively. Neither was in their club’s system when Colorado hosted its first outdoor game nearly four years ago and Stadium Series is expected to be their first-ever meeting. * When Colorado last played outdoors, Makar was a 17-year-old in his first full season with the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. On Feb. 27, 2016, he had an assist vs. the Lloydminster Bobcats to extend his point streak to 10 games and boost his season totals to 8-44—52 in 51 games. * Makar tallied three more points over the final three games of the 2015-16 season to push his point streak to 11 games and finish the campaign with 10-45—55 in 54 games, the second-most points among AJHL defensemen behind Brinson Pasichnuk (20-45—65 in 52 GP) – who has since gone on to captain the NCAA Division I team at Arizona State University. * In 2016-17, Makar led defensemen and finished sixth overall in the AJHL with 75 points in 54 games before collecting several accolades, including MVP of both the regular season and playoffs and a second straight AJHL title. He then was selected fourth overall by Colorado at the 2017 NHL Draft, becoming the highest-drafted player in NHL history from the AJHL (previous Joe Colborne: No. 16 in 2008). * Iafallo, the Kings’ second-highest scoring player this season (15-18—33 in 58 GP), was in his junior year at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2015-16 as Los Angeles surged to its fifth 100-point season and Colorado hosted an outdoor game for the first time. * Iafallo played four seasons at UMD, compiling 21-30—51 in 42 games as a senior in 2016-17, including a tiebreaking goal in the final 30 seconds of the Frozen Four semifinal on April 6, 2017 to lift the Bulldogs into the national championship game. Iafallo scored again in a 3-2 loss to the University of Denver in the title game before signing his first NHL contract less than two weeks later. * While the two never crossed paths in the NCAA – Iafallo was a senior in 2016-17 and Makar a freshman in 2017-18 – it was Iafallo’s alma matter that defeated Makar and UMass in the 2019 national championship game (Makar scored in his NHL debut two days later). .