Projected Lineup: Avalanche vs. Blues (Jan. 15, 2021)

The Colorado Avalanche will make several minor lineup adjustments tonight at Ball Arena as the club looks to even up its season-opening series with the St. Louis Blues.
Colorado will switch up its top-six forwards, as Gabriel Landeskog will take Andre Burakovsky's position on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Burakovsky will join a trio centered by Nazem Kadri and will play on the right side while fellow wing Brandon Saad will skate on the left.

"We moved Landeskog with MacKinnon and Rantanen and then moved Saad over to the left with Kadri and Burky over to the right. Did that for a couple of different reasons. One being I like the net presence that Landy brings to the MacKinnon line," said Bednar after Thursday's practice. "When they have possession in the offensive zone, he sets up shop in front of the net, we know that he's had a lot of success with that, they were lacking that a little bit [Wednesday] night. The second one is Burakovsky, I am equally as happy with him on the right side as left, and I want to move Saad over to his left side and play on his forehand a little bit and see how he does there."
On defense, Samuel Girard will now play on the right side with Ryan Graves while Conor Timmins will skate on the right on a pairing with Ian Cole. The Avs' defensive combination of Cale Makar and Devon Toews will remain the same.
Philipp Grubauer will start in net for Colorado for the second consecutive game. He stopped 28 shots on Wednesday in the Avs' 4-1 loss to the Blues on opening night.
This is the second of eight meetings between Colorado and St. Louis this season, with the teams next playing on Feb. 6-7 at Enterprise Center. The Avalanche is facing the same opponent in each of its first two games of the season for the first time since playing the Minnesota Wild to begin the 2014-15 campaign (road and then home) and is skating against the same club in back-to-back outings at home since hosting the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 27-29, 2005.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup for the game against the Blues. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
28 Ian Cole - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer (starter)
39 Pavel Francouz (backup)
Injury Report: Erik Johnson (illness)
Taxi Squad: Shane Bowers, Dennis Gilbert, Martin Kaut, Hunter Miska, Logan O'Connor, Kiefer Sherwood