"He's given us some real quality starts here," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar of Grubauer. "He was great the other night, key saves early in the game, especially the breakaway when they came out of the (penalty) box there to keep the game tied. He made all the saves he needed to make, so we're going to go back with him here. Give Varly (Semyon Varlamov) a little bit of a mental break and see if we can ride a hot goalie again."
Grubauer last started in consecutive games on Jan. 2-8 when he guarded the pipes in three straight outings against the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets.
Bednar said he won't make any changes to his lineup for the outing against the Hurricanes, which marks the second and final meeting of the season between the cross-conference foes.
The Avs won 3-1 in the first matchup of the campaign back on Oct. 20 in Carolina. Grubauer made a career-high 42 saves, and Nathan MacKinnon recorded a goal and two assists in the victory.
Defenseman Ryan Graves is expected to be the lone healthy scratch for Colorado.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup based on the forward line combinations and defensive pairings from Saturday's game against the Sabres. They are subject to change.
