November 9 – The Colorado Avalanche faced the hottest team in the NHL on Thursday night and now face another team on a hot streak to start the season.

After losing to Winnipeg 1-0 on Thursday night, Colorado will host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. Carolina has won an NHL-best eight straight, including two in overtime, and begins a three-game road trip in Denver.

The Hurricanes have scored an average of 4.75 goals during their winning streak and have scored at least four goals in each of the last seven games.

“Confidence is a big thing. When you see the puck going in, it helps,” said Jordan Martinook, who scored the opening goal in the Hurricanes’ 5-1 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday. “I feel like the last two games, (our line) has been a lot more focused on that and we’ve had a lot more chances.”

Carolina’s offense has been humming despite only one player, Martin Necas, being in the top 30 in NHL scoring and four players with 10 or more total points. Necas is second on the team with seven goals, while Jack Roslovic, who scored twice against Pittsburgh, leads with nine.

The Hurricanes also benefit from excellent goaltending in Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen, who together have a 2.33 goals-against average. Kochetkov is 7-1 with a 2.51 GAA after stopping 35 shots against the Penguins.

“Obviously, he’s proven himself. He plays incredibly well, and on nights like tonight, when we’re not all here, he does his thing,” Martinook said after the win over Pittsburgh.

Colorado benefited from good goaltending from Alexandar Georgiev, who made 27 saves against Winnipeg, but was shut out for the first time this season. Georgiev struggled early this season and gave way to Justus Annunen, but if he can replicate his performance from Thursday he will likely be able to return to the starting job.

Goaltending hasn’t been the only sticking point in a slow start for the Avalanche. Injuries have depleted the top two lines, with four of the team’s expected top six forwards on the shelf. Artturi Lehkonen made his season debut with a goal in a win over Seattle on Tuesday and Valeri Nichushkin is eligible to come off his suspension in a week. Jonathan Drouin (upper body) also started skating.

The Avalanche hoped captain Gabriel Landeskog would be ready to play for the first time since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals, but he suffered a setback in his rehabilitation and his future is uncertain.

Landeskog has undergone several surgeries over the past two seasons, including a cartilage graft in his knee, and his timetable for return is unclear.

“A setback might be fair, they just changed his plan of attack a little bit because of how he was feeling,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar told Altitude Radio earlier this week. “I don’t think anything happened or anything that just caused him to make major changes. But he’s been on the ice and off the ice, there’s no calendar.”

–Field level media

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