Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Buffalo Sabres (7:00 p.m.)

Coming off a win against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first game of their homestand, the Colorado Avalanche welcome back Evan Rodrigues from the IR as they host the streaky Buffalo Sabres.

Monday’s win over Philadelphia was a strong demonstration that the Avalanche are still a powerful squad despite all the injuries they’re facing. That injury burden gets a little lighter tonight, as Evan Rodrigues’ return bumps Jacob MacDonald out of the lineup.

The lines should jumble quite a bit as Coach Bednar works Rodrigues back into his forward group and finds ice time for Alex Newhook with skilled players, but the AHL callup line of Charles Hudon, Ben Meyers, and Jean-Luc Foudy has earned Bednar’s trust enough to stay together behind the Rantanen and Compher lines at the NHL level for now.

PROJECTED LINES

Artturi Lehkonen (62) - Mikko Rantanen (96) - Valeri Nichushkin (13)
Andrew Cogliano (11) - J.T. Compher (37) - Evan Rodrigues (9)
Charles Hudon (54) - Ben Meyers (59) - Jean-Luc Foudy (93)
Dryden Hunt (22) - Alex Newhook (18) - Logan O’Connor (25)

Sam Girard (49) - Cale Makar (8)
Devon Toews (7) - Erik Johnson (6)
Brad Hunt (17) - Andreas Englund (88)

Follow along with the Tweets and in the comments below!