The Colorado Avalanche face the Nashville Predators with both teams looking to improve from rocky starts to the season. The Avalanche have an 18-11-2 record and with three wins in a row have leaped to fourth place in the Central Division. The Predators have a 14-13-4 record but have won back-to-back games to make up ground in the division. Both teams are looking to improve in the division and the Western Conference and the upcoming game should be a good one as a result.
The Avalanche are having a great season but hope the offense can improve, scoring only 2.90 goals per game. Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen have combined for 31 goals and 31 assists while defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews have added nine goals and 38 assists from the point but the rest of the offense has struggled. The hope is that Logan O'Connor and Andrew Cogliano can step up as they play a pivotal role in the forward unit but has only combined for nine goals and seven assists this season.
The offense has struggled but the defense has stepped up, allowing only 2.61 goals per game with only two goals in the last three games. Makar and Toews have combined for 4.8 defensive point shares and 96 blocked shots while Erik Johnson and Josh Manson have combined for 3.2 defensive point shares to give the Avalanche two great defensive pairings. Moreover, goaltender Alexandar Georgiev has been gre at in the net with a .924 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average on 693 shots.