Avalanche at Penguins

AVALANCHE (27-18-3) at PENGUINS (24-16-9)

Avalanche projected lineup
Valeri Nichushkin -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Artturi Lehkonen
Mikko Rantanen -- J.T. Compher -- Evan Rodrigues
Matt Nieto
-- Alex Newhook -- Denis Malgin
Kurtis MacDermid -- Logan O'Connor -- Andrew Cogliano
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Bowen Byram -- Brad Hunt
Pavel Francouz
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Andreas Englund
Injured: Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Josh Manson (lower body), Darren Helm (lower body)
Penguins projected lineup
Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn -- Jeff Carter -- Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling -- Teddy Blueger -- Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- Jeff Petry
Pierre-Olivier Joseph -- Chad Ruhwedel
Casey DeSmith
Dustin Tokarski
Scratched: Drew O'Connor, Mark Friedman, Danton Heinen
Injured: Tristan Jarry (upper body), Jan Rutta (upper body)
Status report
Nichushkin and Byram will return for the Avalanche. Nichushkin missed two games with an upper-body injury; Byram last played Nov. 4 because of a lower-body injury. … Colorado could dress seven defensemen if Englund replaces MacDermid. … Kapanen and Archibald will each be available for Pittsburgh, coach Mike Sullivan said. Kapanen has been out since Jan. 18 with a lower-body injury; Archibald has not played since Dec. 18 with a lower-body injury.