Projected Lineup: Avalanche at Blackhawks

CHICAGO--The Colorado Avalanche wraps up its season series with the Chicago Blackhawks this evening at United Center.
It is the fifth matchup of the campaign between the Central Division foes and the second in as many days. The Avalanche defeated the Blackhawks 4-2 on Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Center to begin the home-and-home, back-to-back set. The Avs are 2-1-1 against the Hawks this season.

Colorado did not hold a morning skate today with the game being the second half of a back-to-back, so the team's exact lineup won't be known until closer to the 6 p.m. MT puck drop.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made his fourth straight start in Saturday's win for the Avalanche and finished with 29 saves on 31 shots. In his last nine appearances (eight starts), Grubauer has posted a 6-2-0 record with three shutouts, a 1.00 goals-against average and .968 save percentage.
Following Saturday's contest, Avs head coach Jared Bednar said he had not yet decided on if he will start Grubauer or fellow keeper Semyon Varlamov for the back half of the set against Chicago.
Varlamov's last game was March 15 against the Anaheim Ducks, but he's had success in the past against the Blackhawks. The netminder has a 14-6-3 record, 2.27 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in 24 career games against Chicago. At United Center, Varlamov has been even better, posting a 9-3-1 record, 2.00 goals-against average, .944 save percentage and three shutouts in 14 outings (13 starts).
Bednar has traditionally split up his goalie starts during back-to-back sets, but he did start Varlamov in both outings when the Avs played on Feb. 9-10 at the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins.
Right wing Mikko Rantanen will miss his second straight game after suffering an upper-body injury on Thursday at the Dallas Stars. Sven Andrighetto took his spot on a line with Carl Soderberg and Colin Wilson on Saturday.
Colorado has dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the past four games and has won each of those contests.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup based on the forward combinations and defensive pairings from Saturday's matchup versus the Blackhawks. They are subject to change.

Forwards

13 Alexander Kerfoot - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 37 J.T. Compher
22 Colin Wilson - 34 Carl Soderberg - 10 Sven Andrighetto
18 Derick Brassard - 17 Tyson Jost - 11 Matt Calvert
57 Gabriel Bourque - 26 Andrew Agozzino

Defensemen

49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
28 Ian Cole - 4 Tyson Barrie\
16 Nikita Zadorov - 12 Patrik Nemeth
27 Ryan Graves

Goaltenders

1 Semyon Varlamov OR 31 Philipp Grubauer
Injury Report: 44 Mark Barberio (lower body), 83 Matt Nieto (lower body), 91 Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), 92 Gabriel Landeskog (upper body), 96 Mikko Rantanen (upper body)