Avalanche forwards Alex Tanguay and Joey Hishon will each play in a milestone game Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Pepsi Center.
Tanguay will become the 299th NHL player to play in 1,000 career regular-season games, and Hishon will be making his regular-season debut.
Tanguay will be honored pregame, with former teammate Milan Hejduk — who played his entire 1,020-game career with the Avs — as the lead presenter.
“It’s a nice accomplishment, when you look at the list of guys,” Tanguay said after the morning skate. “It’s not something I really set out for. As I kid I just wanted to play one game in the NHL.”
Hishon, who was Colorado’s first-round pick in the 2010 draft (17th overall), played in three games for the Avs in last year’s playoffs. He has 32 points (14 goals) in 50 games for Lake Erie this season and will play center on Colorado’s fourth line against the Pens.
“I’m more reassured that I’m ready, to have had that experience before of playing in the NHL, and in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s huge for me, and I feel physically stronger now than I was then,” Hishon said. “I’m definitely excited.”
Hishon, 23, is the eighth forward from the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League to be called up and play for the Avs this season. Among the call-ups, he is the only first-round draftee.
“Honestly, I think all those guys are very deserving,” Hishon said of Dennis Everberg, Borna Rendulic, Ben Street, Tomas Vincour, Andrew Agozzino, Colin Smith and the since-traded Michael Sgarbossa. “They were playing great hockey when they did get called up, and that’s what it goes by. For me, I can’t be frustrated. I just had to open my eyes and work harder every single game and try to get my name in that list of guys who were going to get called up.”
Forward Daniel Briere will be Colorado’s only healthy scratch.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikechambers
