LAS VEGAS — The Colorado Avalanche could look across the ice Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena and see … themselves, from the past couple of seasons.
Colorado faces the Vegas Golden Knights in a matchup of two division leaders Saturday. It could be the preview of a looming Western Conference postseason showdown.
What it won’t be is two sides going to battle with all of its top weaponry available. The Golden Knights are trying to survive right now, with franchise center Jack Eichel, No. 1 defenseman Shea Theodore and No. 1 goalie Adin Hill all out with injuries.
Toss in Alex Pietrangelo, who is taking the entire year off because of injury a la Gabe Landeskog, and the parallels between the 2025-26 Golden Knights and the past three additions of the Avs, which all dealt with significant availability issues, are even more similar.
Still, the Golden Knights have been able to grind out enough points to lead the Pacific Division. Vegas, Anaheim and Edmonton all reached the holiday break level on 44 points, but the Knights have played the fewest games.
“Teams go through adversity at different times,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “These guys are through it a little bit right now. The parody in the league is as good as it’s ever been … I do think there are some teams that usually have a big role to play that are going to finish right where you kind of expect them to.”
To Bednar’s point, several NHL clubs considered top Stanley Cup contenders in the preseason have scuffled through the first half of the campaign. Vegas and Edmonton both have had struggles, while Florida and Tampa Bay have dealt with significant injury concerns of their own in the East.
Colorado and Dallas have been much healthier, and those two clubs have soared above the rest in the NHL standings. But as the league gears up for the second segment of this season as a lead up to the 2026 Olympic break, the Oilers and Panthers have surged back into a playoff position, while the Lightning and Golden Knights have continued to struggle.
“I think leadership, coaching, culture but also just having really good players and depth is big,” Avs center Jack Drury said. “Those are all well-coached teams. I think that helps a lot.”
Vegas has teetered a bit without Eichel, though. He’s missed the past four games, which includes losses to New Jersey, Calgary and Edmonton. Mitch Marner, the marquee offseason addition for any NHL team, has spent some time at center with both Eichel and William Karlsson out of the lineup.
Marner left Toronto and signed with Vegas for the same contract Mikko Rantanen inked in Dallas — eight years, $96 million. Marner has nine goals and 38 points in 35 games for Vegas.
When the Avs were here for a 4-2 win on Halloween, their focus on trying to shut down Vegas’ high-powered power play was a big part of it. And Marner immediately became one of the key facilitators for that group.
“I think he just adds a different dynamic,” Avs center Brock Nelson, who lined up against Marner for years in the Eastern Conference, said. “He makes guys around him better. He’s so dangerous with the puck. It’s his vision. He creates turnovers, one of the better sticks in the league. He impacts the game pretty well in every way.”
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