New Jersey Devils (9-16-5, eighth in the Metropolitan Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (20-8-3, first in the Central Division)
Denver; Friday, 9 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Nathan MacKinnon and Colorado square off against New Jersey. MacKinnon is third in the league with 48 points, scoring 19 goals and recording 29 assists.
The Avalanche have gone 9-3-2 in home games. Colorado leads the league shooting 11.6% and averaging 3.7 goals on 31.7 shots per game.
The Devils have gone 5-9-0 away from home. New Jersey has scored 15 power-play goals, converting on 13.6% of chances.
The matchup Friday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams.
TOP PERFORMERS: MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 29 assists and has collected 48 points this season. Joonas Donskoi has
Taylor Hall leads the Devils with 25 points, scoring six goals and collecting 19 assists. Kyle Palmieri has four goals and three assists over the last 10 games for New Jersey.
LAST 10 GAMES: Devils: 2-7-1, averaging 2.3 goals, four assists, 4.2 penalties and 9.6 penalty minutes while allowing 3.5 goals per game with a .892 save percentage.
Avalanche: 7-2-1, averaging 3.8 goals, 6.3 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.2 penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .925 save percentage.
INJURIES: Avalanche: Philipp Grubauer: day to day (undisclosed), Cale Makar: day to day (upper body), Andre Burakovsky: out (upper body).
Devils: None listed.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press