The Colorado Avalanche begin a new season against the archrivals from Michigan, the Detroit Red Wings.
This will be a special opener at Pepsi Center, as Colorado will retire the jersey of all-time great Peter Forsberg in a ceremony before the game. Former Avalanche players Wade Belak, Karlis Skrastins, and Ruslan Salei will also be honored before the game.
This will be the first game for rookie Gabriel Landeskog, the second overall selection in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft back in June. Landeskog will likely play left wing on Ryan O'Reilly's third line and see some time on the power play unit. Newcomers Semyon Varlamov and Jan Hejda will also make their first starts in Avalanche jerseys after being acquired this offseason to revamp a very poor defensive unit last season.
Peter Mueller will also make his return to the ice for the first time in over a year. The talented winger missed the entire 2010-2011 season after suffering a concussion in the last preseason game that year. He will play alongside Matt Duchene and veteran Milan Hejduk.
The Detroit Red Wings opened their season on Friday night, handily defeating the Ottawa Senators by a 5-3 margin. The game was not that close, as Detroit put five goals past former Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson in the first two periods before a late surge by Ottawa made the score appear closer than the game actually was.
The pre-game ceremonies begin at 5:45 p.m. MDT. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. MDT.