Bednar said the only change he will make to his lineup this evening against Anaheim with be in net, as goaltender Pavel Francouz will get the start for the eighth time in Colorado's past nine games.
Francouz had started seven consecutive outings before getting rest on Monday in the club's 2-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings. Francouz, who was named the NHL's Third Star of the week on Monday, has won his last six games, allowing two goals or fewer in each outing for a 1.32 goals-against average and .957 save percentage.
Three injured players took ice in non-contact jerseys before today's morning skate--forwards Nazem Kadri (lower body) and Mikko Rantanen (upper body) and goaltender Philipp Grubauer (lower body)--but all three, as well as Matt Calvert, aren't expected back until mid-March.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup for the game against the Ducks, based on the start of the team's previous game in Detroit. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov
83 Matt Nieto - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 61 Martin Kaut
81 Vladislav Kamenev - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 27 Ryan Graves
28 Ian Cole - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 44 Mark Barberio
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
35 Michael Hutchinson
Injury Report: Andre Burakovsky (upper body/lower body), Matt Calvert (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Cale Makar (upper body), Mikko Rantanen (upper body), Colin Wilson (lower body)
