After finishing up a road trip with a shootout loss to the Nashville Predators, the Avalanche are back in the Mile High City as they welcome the Florida Panthers to town. This will be the first regular-season matchup between these two teams. It is also the celebration night of the 1996 Stanley Cup team.
Colorado Avalanche (21-2-7)
The Opponent: Florida Panthers (15-12-2)
Time: 7:30 p.m. MT
Watch: ESPN
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
After coming off a road trip where they went 2-1-1, the Colorado Avalanche are back home for
a couple of games starting tonight, and they take on the Florida Panthers first on this small home stand. Colorado ultimately lost in a shootout to the Nashville Predators, as previously mentioned, and will be looking to get back in the win column tonight against the Panthers. They should have a very good chance to do it here tonight against a Panthers team that have been struggling this year, which we’ll touch on here in a moment.
Gavin Brindley was taken off Injured Reservecin Nashville but didn’t play. Tonight he draws back into the lineup in favor of Zakhar Bardakov as Parker Kelly shifts to center. Mackenzie Blackwood is expected in net.
Projected Lineup
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Ross Colton
Valeri Nichushkin – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Gavin Brindley – Parker Kelly – Joel Kiviranta
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Samuel Girard – Sam Malinski
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Florida Panthers
The Panthers have won three games in a row, but they have been struggling all season this year so far. Currently, they sit four spots out of a playoff spot, and have also faced a massive amount of injuries this year. Matthew Tkachuck has been out for the entirety of the season so far, which has been a massive missing piece for this Panthers team. That all being said, the Panthers are still the Panthers; they know how to win, and they have good players on the roster regardless of who they’re missing, and Colorado will need to keep that in mind tonight. It’s also worth noting that Florida did play last night in a 4-3 victory over the Utah Mammoth, which might work in Colorado’s favor if they can jump on the Panthers early.
Projected Lineup
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – AJ Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Jack Studnicka – Noah Gregor
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Jeff Petry – Uvis Balinskis
Sergei Bobrovsky
Daniil Tarasov
