Avalanche Continue Preseason as the Kings Come to Town

The Avalanche host their second game of the preseason tonight against the Los Angeles Kings.  Coach Roy and the Avs will try to respond after a 2-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, where special teams were the Avs biggest problem.  Although the mixed NHL, AHL, Juniors squad outplayed the Ducks 5 on 5, they gave up 7 power play opportunities, 2 power play goals and were unable to score on their 3 power play chances.  The Kings meanwhile, are coming off of a 6-0 route of the Ducks on Tuesday night in Anaheim.  This is the first meeting this year for the Avs-Kings annual preseason series, which concludes September 28th in Las Vegas with the Frozen Fury game.  The Avs trail the Kings 6-7 in preseason and have a chance to tie up the series record tonight.

The game will not be broadcast or streamed online, so be sure to join Marc Moser at 7PM on KRWZ 950 AM.

Lineup:

Sami Aittokallio will start in net for the Avalanche and switch with Calvin Pickard partway through the game.

Ryan O`Reilly, Matt Duchene, and Steve Downie will make their season debut as a line tonight.

We'll add more lineup notes as they become available

Update:

Here's the Avs lineup for tonight with projected line combinations based on training camp:

Forwards:

Ryan O'Reilly (90) - Matt Duchene (9) - Steve Downie (17)

Gabriel Landeskog (92) - Paul Stastny (26) - Paul Carey (28)

Mark Olver (10) - John Mitchell (7) - Patrick Bordeleau (58)

Mitchell Heard (48) - Brad Malone (42) - J.T. Wyman (12)

Defense:

Erik Johnson (6) - Chris Bigras (57)

Tyson Barrie (4) - Andre Benoit (61)

Stefan Elliott (46) - Karl Stollery (3)

Nick Holden (2) - Nate Guenin (5)

Goaltenders:

Sami Aittokallio (30)

Calvin Pickard (31)

Notable Kings in Play:

Jake Muzzin, Slavay Voynov, Willie Mitchell and DU alum Nick Shore will all take the ice for the Kings.

Lineup Notes:

- Surprised to see Nathan MacKinnon get a night off already while the Stastny line gets another night on the ice

- Chris Bigras is getting a good long look from the Avs coaching staff as he plays his second preseason game with Erik Johnson

- Duncan Siemens is yet to play in preseason and wont be in the lineup tonight.

- Although the Kings did bring a few strong defenders in Voynov and Muzzin, their overall lineup tonight is ummm "unseasoned." The Avs top 2 lines should score some points tonight.