[UPDATE: Due to sun issues, the Avalanche vs. Golden Knights game was delayed after the first period. It will resume at midnight ET on NBCSN. You can watch the Avalanche-Golden Knights stream on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.]
This is the first of two games this weekend to be played outdoors at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. After Saturday’s game between the Golden Knights and the Avalanche, the Flyers and Bruins will face-off on Sunday evening (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
This will mark the first ever outdoor game for the Golden Knights and the third such game for the Avalanche. Colorado hosted the Red Wings at Coors Field in Denver in February 2016 and then hosted the Kings last February at the Air Force Academy in Colorado (Avs lost both games).
This is the third of four straight meetings between these teams in a nine-day span. They split their first two meetings on Feb 14 and Feb 16 and will play again on Monday night in Colorado.
Mark Stone leads Vegas with 16 points this season (4G-12A), while Max Pacioretty is tops on the team with eight goals. The two finished 1-2 on the Golden Knights in points last season (66 for Pacioretty, 63 for Stone). Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 15 points this season, but he has scored just three goals (12A). MacKinnon, who finished as MVP runner-up last season, has put up 35-plus goals and 90-plus points in each of the last three seasons.
Marc-Andre Fleury has been outstanding this season, winning seven of his first nine starts (7-2-0) while posting a 1.56 GAA and .937 SV% with two shutouts. Last season, Fleury lost the starting job to Robin Lehner in the playoffs, with Fleury starting just four of the Golden Knights’ 20 postseason games (Lehner started 16). Lehner then signed a five-year, $25M contract with the Golden Knights in October, leading some to believe Fleury’s days in Vegas were numbered. However, Lehner is currently sidelined with an upper-body injury, allowing Fleury to show he can still be a number-one goaltender at age 36.
Cale Makar has missed Colorado’s last two games, both against Vegas, with an upper-body injury. The 22-year-old skated in warmups prior to their last game on Tuesday but did not play. Makar, who won the Calder Trophy last season, has 12 points in 11 games this season (1G-11A) and was riding a five-game point streak prior to his injury
[AVALANCHE-GOLDEN KNIGHT STREAM RESUMES AT MIDNIGHT ET - NBCSN]
WHAT: Colorado Avalanche vs. Vegas Golden Knights
WHERE: Edgewood Tahoe Resort Golf Course -- Stateline, Nevada
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 20. Coverage resumes at midnight ET
TV: NBCSN
ON THE CALL: Mike Tirico, Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher, Rutledge Wood
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Avalanche-Golden Knights stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
AVALANCHE
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad - Nazem Kadri - Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin - J.T. Compher - Joonas Donskoi
Sheldon Dries - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Jayson Megna
Devon Toews - Cale Makar
Bowen Byram - Sam Girard
Conor Timmins - Ryan Graves
Starting goalie: Philipp Grubauer
GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Max Pacioretty - Chandler Stephenson - Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault - William Karlsson - Reilly Smith
Alex Tuch - Cody Glass - Keegan Kolesar
Will Carrier - Nicolas Roy - Ryan Reaves
Alec Martinez - Alex Pietrangelo
Nick Holden - Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague - Zach Whitecloud
Starting goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury