The Colorado Avalanche wraps up its quick trip to the desert this evening as the team faces the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena for the second straight night.
The Avalanche defeated the Coyotes 5-1 on Monday in the first half of the back-to-back set. These are the only two road games in 30-day span for the Avs, as they are in the middle of a stretch that has them playing 15-of-17 contests at Ball Arena.
With the victory on Monday, the Avalanche improved to 4-1-0 in the first outing of back-to-backs. The team currently sports a 2-0-2 record in the second half of such sets.
Colorado didn’t hold a morning skate today, so the club’s exact lineup won’t be known until closer to game time. Head coach Jared Bednar said he’ll determine the starting goalie for tonight after talking with Philipp Grubauer and his staff following Monday’s game.
Grubauer could return to the net for a second consecutive day after he stopped 24-of-25 shots in Monday’s victory. It was his career-high 19th win of the season and his seventh in a row, which also set a new personal long.
If Grubauer doesn’t play, Jonas Johansson will likely make his Avalanche debut after being acquired on Saturday in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres. Johansson last played on March 16 when he made 24 saves in a loss at the New Jersey Devils.
Below is the Avalanche’s projected lineup based on the forward combinations and defensive pairings from last night’s game against the Coyotes. They are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog – 29 Nathan MacKinnon – 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad – 91 Nazem Kadri – 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin – 17 Tyson Jost – 72 Joonas Donskoi
11 Matt Calvert – 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews – 8 Cale Makar
34 Jacob MacDonald – 49 Samuel Girard
27 Ryan Graves – 4 Bowen Byram
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer OR 35 Jonas Johansson
Taxi Squad: Jayson Megna, Greg Pateryn, Logan O’Connor, Dan Renouf, Kiefer Sherwood, Adam Werner
Injury Report: Pavel Francouz (lower body), Erik Johnson (upper body), Conor Timmins (upper body)