Projected Lineup: Avalanche at Ducks
Sheldon Dries enters lineup after being called up from Eagles
by Ron Knabenbauer @RonKnab / ColoradoAvalanche.com
ANAHEIM, Calif.--The Colorado Avalanche begins its Southern California consecutive set tonight at Honda Center against the Anaheim Ducks.
Goaltender Pavel Francouz will make his third straight start in net for Colorado, which also plays at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday to complete the club's 10th back-to-back set of the season. Francouz is coming off a 27-save performance in the team's 3-1 win on Wednesday versus the New York Islanders.
Among the skater group for the Avalanche, the club will change the personnel on the fourth line as Sheldon Dries will play alongside Tyson Jost and Vladislav Kamenev, a spot T.J. Tynan had occupied for the previous two outings. The Avs exchanged forwards on Thursday afternoon with the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles, recalling Dries and reassigning Tynan.
The Eagles are also playing in Southern California this weekend and take on the Ontario Reign this evening.
Colorado did mix up its defensive combos in the contest against the Islanders, moving Samuel Girard onto a duo with Nikita Zadorov while Ian Cole was paired with Erik Johnson.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup for the game at the Ducks. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 61 Martin Kaut
81 Vladislav Kamenev - 17 Tyson Jost - 15 Sheldon Dries
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 16 Nikita Zadorov
28 Ian Cole - 6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
32 Hunter Miska
Healthy Scratch: Mark Barberio
Injury Report: Matt Calvert (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (upper body), Colin Wilson (lower body)