Soderberg previously skated four seasons with Colorado from 2015-2019 and has four helpers in 18 postseason games with the Avalanche. He enters the lineup for Nazem Kadri, who has an in-person hearing via Zoom with the NHL Department of Player Safety today for an illegal check to the head in in second matchup of the series.
Head coach Jared Bednar did not say where Soderberg will be inserted into the lineup or what the forward combinations will be, but he did say there will be "some shuffling."
The Avs won the first two games of the best-of-seven set in Denver, earning a 4-1 win on Monday and picking up a 6-3 victory on Wednesday.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer will start in net for the Avs after making 22 saves in Game 1 and stopping 32 shots in Game 2. The German netminder is 14-5-1 in 21 career playoff contests with Colorado, ranking third in franchise playoff history in wins (14) and is first in save percentage (.925) and goals-against average (2.13).
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup based on the forward combinations and defensive pairings from Game 2, with Soderberg inserted into Kadri's previous spot. It is subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 34 Carl Soderberg - 72 Joonas Donskoi
20 Brandon Saad - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
18 Alex Newhook - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 27 Ryan Graves
24 Patrik Nemeth - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson
Scratches: Bowen Byram, Dennis Gilbert, Nazem Kadri, Liam O'Brien, Jacob MacDonald, Jayson Megna, Dan Renouf, Kiefer Sherwood,
Injury Report:Matt Calvert (upper body), Devan Dubnyk (returning from COVID protocol), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Erik Johnson (upper body), Logan O'Connor (lower body)
The St. Louis Blues will be without defensemen Justin Faulk and Robert Bortuzzo, and the team will also make some changes to its forward combinations for the contest.
Head coach Craig Berube said that while Faulk and Bortuzzo will be out for Game 3 both could return at some point in the series. Veteran blueliner Vince Dunn is a game-time decision and could return to the lineup, the other possible rear guards include Steven Santini and Mitch Reinke.
Dunn has missed 13 games with an upper-body injury and hasn't played since April 24 versus Colorado.
Below is the Blues' projected lineup for Game 3, courtesy of StLouisBlues.com
Forwards
49 Ivan Barbashev - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 25 Jordan Kyrou
17 Jaden Schwartz - 10 Brayden Schenn - 91 Vladimir Tarasenko
68 Mike Hoffman - 21 Tyler Bozak - 18 Robert Thomas
13 Kyle Clifford - 12 Zach Sanford - 9 Sammy Blais
Defensemen
47 Torey Krug
55 Colton Parayko
6 Marco Scandella
77 Niko Mikkola
Game Time Decisions: 29 Vince Dunn, 36 Steven Santini, 39 Mitch Reinke
Goaltenders
50 Jordan Binnington
35 Ville Husso
