Projected Lineup: Avalanche vs. Senators
Vladislav Kamenev to return to lineup with Nazem Kadri out with injury
by Callie Parmele @CallieParmele / ColoradoAvalanche.com
The Colorado Avalanche returns home this evening to host the Ottawa Senators in its first game at Pepsi Center since Jan. 20.
Colorado is coming off a 4-1-0 road trip, winning the last four games by a combined score of 15-5. The Avs are 7-1-0 in their last eight games and 7-1-2 in their last 10, as well as 4-0-2 in their last six home outings, the team's longest home point streak of the season
The Avalanche will make a change to its lineup with Nazem Kadri out indefinitely. The London, Ontario, native suffered a lower-body injury at the end of the second period of Colorado's last game on Sunday at the Minnesota Wild. He came out for a shift in the final frame of regulation but was unable to continue in the matchup.
Jared Bednar noted that with Kadri out with injury, J.T. Compher will slot into the second-line center spot. Additionally, Vladislav Kamenev will go back into the lineup.
Kamenev has one goal and five assists in 23 games this season and last played on Jan. 20. Bednar did not specifically say what his forward combinations will be, but he noted that they will look similar to how they were at the end of the contest in Minnesota with Kamenev playing at a center position.
Philipp Grubauer, who has allowed only one goal in each of his last three games, was the first goaltender off the ice from morning skate and is expected to be between the pipes. It is the second and final matchup between Colorado and Ottawa this year, with the teams meeting for the second time in less than a week after the Avs earned a 4-1 victory in Canada's capital on Thursday.
Tonight's outing is the first of a five-game homestand for the Avalanche that will include the 2020 NHL Stadium Series outdoor game on Saturday at the U.S. Air Force Academy against the Los Angeles Kings.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup based on how the team ended its previous game in Minnesota on Sunday, with Kamenev inserted into the lineup. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovksy - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 81 Vladislav Kamenev - 11 Matt Calvert
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 17 Tyson Jost
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz
Healthy Scratch: none
Injury Report: Nazem Kadri (lower body, out indefinitely), Colin Wilson (lower body, out indefinitely)