Saturday night’s Avalanche-Rangers game at the Pepsi Center is going to be big news in Baerum, Flekkefjord and Oslo — and likely everywhere else in Norway.
That’s because Rangers standout Mats Zuccarello and Avalanche winger Andreas Martinsen are the only Norwegian-born players currently active in the NHL. They’ve been teammates on national teams, but never have played against each other in the NHL. The Avalanche has had two other Norwegian-born players in the franchise’s 21 years in Denver — defensemen Anders Myrvold and Jonas Holos — but there have been only eight NHL players from that country in league history.