Denver, Co. – Last season’s President’s Trophy winners are in town to face off against the Colorado Avalanche for their first of two games against each other this season. The second game will be played in less than two weeks.
Mackenzie Blackwood will occupy the crease as tonight’s starter for the Avalanche. Scott Wedgewood will be back on the roster for the first time since his injury as tonight’s backup.
For the New York Rangers, it’ll be Igor Shesterkin in net with Jonathan Quick backing up.
The New York Rangers are 4-1-1 in their last six games, having picked up at least one point in their last four. Forward Matt Rempe picked up his first point this season during their last game, an assist on forward Adam Edstrom’s third-period goal. Edstrom’s goal was the first game-winning goal of his career.
1.) Throw an Avalanche of Shots onto the Rangers
The Avalanche are preparing to face their second Vezina-winning goaltender in two games. The first, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, shut the Avalanche out for the second time this season in Winnipeg. Tonight, the Avalanche face Igor Shesterkin, who won the trophy in 2021 and took the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final during last year’s postseason.
During their shutout loss against the Jets, the Avalanche posted their lowest shot count of 2025 at 22 shots. The only other game where the Avalanche have posted lower than 25 shots in a game this calendar year was during the shootout loss against the Montreal Canadiens on January 4th.
Though the stats for the Rangers in regards to shots are pretty evenly matched, the Avalanche have proven they’re the stronger team when they can post more than 23 shots a night. They’ll need to do that against what is sure to be a strong showing from a strong goaltender.
2.) Pick Up the Pace on the Power Play
The Avalanche are 0/13 on the power play in their last five games. On the other side of things, they are 10/10 on the penalty kill.
The last time they found the back of the net during the man-advantage was on January 2nd, during their 6-5 comeback win against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Rangers currently own the seventh-best penalty kill in the league. Just like Peter Laviolette, head coach of the Rangers, said tonight is an opportunity for his team to build on their positively trending game lately, tonight’s game would be a good opportunity for Colorado’s power play to resurge and get them back in the win column.
3.) Create Some Blue-Line Blues
Fans will be treated to a defensive…