With Grubauer out, Pavel Francouz will make his third Stanley Cup Playoff start this evening. Francouz made his NHL postseason debut on Aug. 5 against Dallas in a Stanley Cup Qualifier round-robin game and stopped all 27 shots he faced to become the first goalie in franchise history to post a shutout in his first playoff game.
Coming in on the backend for Johnson will be veteran D-man Kevin Connauton. Connauton has skated in 314 NHL games with the Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, Arizona Coyotes and Colorado, and he appeared in four playoff contests with Dallas in 2014.
"I don't know that there is a wrong decision here or a clear-cut right decision to be honest with you. I have really liked all those guys in training camp, including Bo Byram," Bednar said after Colorado's morning skate. "Connauton has played real well for us when he's come in, and I've really liked his training camp. The reason that he gets the nod today [is he's a] big-body guy that can skate and he's strong, and then his puck moving is one of the strengths of his game. The final thing really that I like too is the experience. He's been here before. He understands where we are at, and this is a big game for us."
Matt Calvert did not play in Game 1 of the best-of-seven set and will not dress for tonight's matchup, but Bednar noted that the forward remains day-to-day.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup for Game 2. The forward combinations and defensive pairings are expected to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 28 Ian Cole
16 Nikita Zadorov - 7 Kevin Connauton
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
35 Michael Hutchinson
Forward Mattias Janmark returned to game action for the Stars in Game 1 after missing Game 6 of the first-round series with the Calgary Flames.
Dallas interim head coach Rick Bowness said after today's morning skate that goaltender Ben Bishop and defenseman Stephen Johns remain unfit to play. Bishop appeared in two outings this postseason, making 22-of-26 saves in his last contest, Game 2 of the Stars' set with the Flames. Johns' last played in Game 1 against Calgary.
Anton Khudobin is expected to start in net against for Dallas. He made 28 saves on 31 shots in Game 1.
Below is the Stars' projected lineup based on the start of Saturday's outing. It is subject to change.
Forwards
14 Jamie Benn - 91 Tyler Seguin - 47 Alexander Radulov
13 Mattias Janmark - 16 Joe Pavelski - 34 Denis Gurianov
11 Andrew Cogliano - 12 Radek Faksa - 15 Blake Comeau
18 Jason Dickinson - 24 Roope Hintz - 10 Corey Perry
Defensemen
23 Esa Lindell - 3 John Klingberg
2 Jamie Oleksiak - 4 Miro Heiskanen
5 Andrej Sekera - 42 Taylor Fedun
Goaltenders
35 Anton Khudobin
29 Jake Oettinger
