Gameday Open Thread: Avalanche vs. Penguins (1:00 p.m.)

Puck drop is just a short time away for two of the best teams in the league to meet in today’s national TV matinee. The Colorado Avalanche plays host to the Pittsburgh Penguins who are still in the midst of the race towards the top of the Metropolitan Division.

For the burgundy and blue Avalanche team, the Mile High altitude levels hope to play to their advantage in what should be a very hard-fought game. We do have an update on Nazem Kadri, who unfortunately is out for today’s game with an upper-body injury.

This comes after finishing out Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks after taking a hard cross-check by Timo Meier. It is expected then that Nicolas Aube-Kubel will come into the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Thursday night.

For the Penguins, there was also concern about Jason Zucker who’d just returned from injury on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild. He was injured in that game and will also be out today for the Penguins while still being evaluated.

Projected Forwards

Valeri Nichushkin (13) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)

Artturi Lehkonen (62) - Alex Newhook (18) - Andre Burakovsky (95)

Logan O’Connor (25) - Nico Sturm (78) - J.T. Compher (37)

Andrew Cogliano (11) - Darren Helm (43) - Nicolas Aube-Kubel (16)

Projected Defenders

Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)

Jack Johnson (3) - Josh Manson (42)

Kurtis MacDermid (56) - Erik Johnson (6)