AVALANCHE PRESEASON GAME NOTES Saturday, September 22, 2018 Avalanche at Minnesota Wild — Xcel Energy Center Tonight: The Colorado Avalanche continues its 2018-19 preseason slate tonight against the Minnesota Wild, the second of six contests on the Avs’ exhibition schedule and the first road outing of the preseason. Colorado faces the Vegas Golden Knights, Wild and Dallas Stars twice each (home-and-home) in the month of September. The Avs opened the preseason at home against Vegas on Tuesday and will play two road contests (tonight at Minnesota and Monday at Vegas) before returning to the Mile High City for consecutive home games against the Stars and Wild. Tune In: All preseason and regular season games can be heard on the Altitude Radio Network, with Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM) serving as the flagship home of Avalanche hockey in 2018-19. New radio play-by-play announcer Conor McGahey will call the action for all six exhibition games and all 82 regular season contests. Long-time Altitude television analyst Peter McNab will join him in the booth for Saturday’s game. Date Opponent Time (MT) Location Result Tue., Sept. 18, 2018 Vegas Golden Knights 7 p.m. Pepsi Center L, 5-1 Sat., Sept. 22, 2018 @ Minnesota Wild 4 p.m. Xcel Energy Center Mon., Sept. 24, 2018 @ Vegas Golden Knights 8 p.m. T-Mobile Arena Wed., Sept. 26, 2018 Dallas Stars 7 p.m. Pepsi Center Fri., Sept. 28, 2018 Minnesota Wild 7 p.m. Pepsi Center Sun., Sept. 30, 2018 @ Dallas Stars 4 p.m. American Airlines Center Avalanche vs. Wild: Colorado was 3-0-1 against its Central-Division rival last season and outscored Minnesota by a combined score of 21-6 through the four meetings in 2017-18. Nathan MacKinnon led all Avalanche skaters with nine points (4g, 5a) in four games against the Wild, while Mikko Rantanen was second on the club with eight points (2g, 6a) in the season series. Tyson Barrie (1g, 3a), Samuel Girard (0g, 4a), Patrik Nemeth (1g, 3a) and Carl Soderberg (3g, 1a) each added four points against Minnesota. The Avs were 6-for-13 (46.2%) on the power play against Minnesota during the 2017-18 regular season. 2018-19 Preseason Game-by-Game Summary Scoring by Period Shots by Period Date Opp. 1 2 3 OT F 1 2 3 OT F PP PK Pen/Min GWG (Saves-Shots) 9/18 vs. VGK 1 2 2 - 5 9 15 6 - 30 2-2 2-2 2-4 E. Brannstrom Z. Fucale (24-25) COL 0 0 1 - 1 9 9 7 - 25 0-2 0-2 2-4 S. Varlamov (21-24)/S. Martin (4-6) 9/22 @ MIN COL 9/24 @ VGK COL 9/26 vs. DAL COL 9/28 vs. MIN COL 9/30 @ DAL COL Transactions: On Wednesday, Sept. 19, the Avalanche reassigned forwards J.C. Beaudin (Colorado Eagles, AHL), Matthew Boucher (Colorado Eagles, AHL), Josh Dickinson (Colorado Eagles, AHL), Grayson Downing (Colorado Eagles, AHL), Nick Henry (Regina Pats, WHL), Julien Nantel (Colorado Eagles, AHL), Brandon Saigeon (Hamilton Bulldogs, OHL) and defensemen Kevin Davis (Colorado Eagles, AHL), Nolan De Jong (Colorado Eagles, AHL), and Turner Ottenbreit (Colorado Eagles, AHL). 2018 Rookie Faceoff: The Avs traveled to Las Vegas to participate in the 2018 Rookie Faceoff hosted by the Golden Knights from Sept. 7-11 at City National Arena. Colorado finished 1-2-0 in games against the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and host Vegas. Brandon Saigeon led the Avalanche with five points (5g, 0a) while Ty Lewis ranked second for the club with four points (1g, 3a). Vladislav Kamenev (1g, 2a), who served as captain of the rookie team, and Logan O’Connor (2g, 1a) each added three points. 2018 Rookie Faceoff Scoring Summary 9/8 vs. Vegas L, 7-6 9/9 vs. Anaheim L, 5-2 9/11 vs. San Jose W, 6-3 Player G-A-P Player G-A-P Player G-A-P Logan O’Connor 2-1-3 Brandon Saigeon 1-0-1 Brandon Saigeon 2-0-2 Brandon Saigeon 2-0-2 Matthew Boucher 1-0-1 Vladislav Kamenev 1-1-2 Ty Lewis 1-1-2 Michael Joly 0-1-1 Ty Lewis 0-2-2 Matthew Boucher 1-0-1 Cole Reinhardt 0-1-1 Nolan De Jong 1-0-1 Vladislav Kamenev 0-1-1 R.T. Rice 0-1-1 Martin Kaut 1-0-1 Josh Dickinson 0-1-1 Tim McGauley 1-0-1 Sergei Boikov 0-1-1 Sergei Boikov 0-1-1 Alex Breton 0-1-1 Nick Henry 0-1-1 Robbie Holmes 0-1-1 Cole Reinhardt 0-1-1 R.T. Rice 0-1-1 2018-19 Regular Season Schedule: The Avs will begin their season at home for the 10th time in the last 13 seasons. Despite playing its first two games at home, the Avalanche will be on the road for much of the early portion of the season, playing 11 of its first 17, 14 of its first 22 and 19 of its first 30 away from Denver. The 2018-19 campaign marks the fourth time in the last seven years that the Avalanche will face the Wild in a season opener (also 2012-13, 2014-15 and 2015-16)... Colorado’s longest road trip is five games, Jan. 8-16, while its longest homestand is also five contests from Jan. 19–Feb. 5. The Avs will have the All-Star Break and their “bye week” in the middle of that homestand... Colorado will play 12 games in October, the club’s most dates in the opening month since 2009-10 (14). They’re Back: The Avalanche revealed the return of its fan-favorite third jersey for the 2018-19 campaign. The sweater originally debuted during the team’s 20th anniversary season on Oct. 24, 2015 vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets at Pepsi Center. Colorado's third jersey will will be worn during 12 home contests (schedule below) this season, all of which will be against Central Division opponents as part of the Avalanche’s Division Rival third jersey nights at Pepsi Center. 2018-19 Third Jersey Schedule Nov. 7 vs. Nashville Jan. 21 vs. Nashville Nov. 24 vs. Dallas Jan. 23 vs. Minnesota Nov. 30 vs. St. Louis Feb. 16 vs. St. Louis Dec. 15 vs. Dallas Feb. 20 vs. Winnipeg Dec. 21 vs. Chicago Mar. 23 vs. Chicago Dec. 29 vs. Chicago Apr. 4 vs. Winnipeg Avs Host Fan Fest on Sept. 29: The Colorado Avalanche will host its inaugural free-of-charge Fan Fest from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Pepsi Center presented by Altitude Sports Radio’s 92.5 FM. The Avalanche Fan Fest is a fun, interactive experience that provides fans with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the innerworkings of an Avs team practice. Fans will get a peek into practice strategy, view “live” in-practice interviews with players and coaches and experience an end-of-practice Avs player contest. The event will also include an exclusive Q&A with Head Coach Jared Bednar hosted by Altitude Sports play-by-play announcer Marc Moser and color analyst Peter McNab. Pronunciation Guide Mark Barberio bahr-BAIR-ee-oh Tyson Jost JOH-st J.C. Beaudin boh-DEHN Vladislav Kamenev KA-men-ehv Matthew Boucher boo-SHAY Martin Kaut COW-t Sergei Boikov boi-KAWV Nicolas Meloche meh-LAWSH Joe Cannata ka-NA-tuh Matt Nieto NEE-eh-toh Nolan De Jong de-YOUNG Mikko Rantanen MEE-koh ran-TA-nehn Sheldon Dries DR-EYES Brandon Saigeon SAY-zhen Pavel Francouz FRAN-soos Igor Shvyrev SHVEE-rev Mason Geertsen GUHRT-zen Semyon Varlamov sehm-YAWN vahr-LAW-mawv Philipp Grubauer groo-BAHW-uhr Nikita Zadorov za-DOHR-awv Changes at Altitude: After 11 seasons as the Avalanche radio play-by-play announcer, Marc Moser moves over to the television side. Moser will be joined by analyst Peter McNab, who returns for his 23rd season as analyst for the Avalanche and his 14th season with Altitude Sports. Lauren Gardner will return as the rinkside reporter/host, and Kyle Keefe, Mark Rycroft and John-Michael Liles will host the pre-game and post-game shows along with the intermission reports. Veteran broadcaster, Conor McGahey will take over radio play-by-play duties this season while Mark Bertagnolli will return as the studio host. KSE Radio Ventures also announced an expansion of its sports programming, moving the primary radio home of the Avalanche to 92.5 FM with select games to be aired on 950 AM. Avalanche 360 with Jared Bednar will return for its third season on Altitude Sports and will debut Thursdays at 10:30 p.m, or immediately following the Avalanche postgame show starting on Oct. 4, and run throughout the season. Avalanche 360 takes fans behind the scenes to learn more about their favorite players and coaches with unprecedented access. Eagles Make AHL Debut: The Colorado Eagles will open the 2018-19 AHL regular season against the Chicago Wolves on Friday, October 5 at 7:05 p.m. at the Budweiser Events Center. The meeting will officially kick off the Eagles' inaugural season as members of the American Hockey League. The Avalanche officially announced on Oct. 10, 2017 that the Eagles would become the club’s next American Hockey League affiliate beginning with the 2018-19 campaign. The Eagles served as the Avs’ ECHL affiliate from 2016-18 and previously acted as the second-tier affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets in 2012-13 and Calgary Flames in 2014-15.