Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Calgary Flames (7:30 p.m.)

The Colorado Avalanche needed to get back on track, and in their two-game homestand against Ottawa and Detroit they did more than just that - they wrecked some fools with a combined score of 13-3. Pretty good.

Traveling to Calgary is a tougher test, though, even in a down year for the Pacific Division powerhouse. Following the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk in the offseason, the new-look Flames have struggled to keep pace in the playoff wildcard race.

Both teams have much higher ceilings than the current place in the standings, but most likely only one will make the playoffs. This is an important game. They will have to do it without Cale Makar, who is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Likely, Jacob MacDonald will slot back in to replace him but still play 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Colorado Avalanche Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Evan Rodrigues
Valeri Nichushkin — J.T. Compher — Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook — Ben Meyers — Logan O’Connor
Andrew Cogliano — Anton Blidh

Devon Toews — Erik Johnson
Samuel Girard — Kurtis MacDermid
Andreas Englund — Brad Hunt
Jacob MacDonald

Calgary Flames Projected Lines

Dillon Dube - Elias Lindholm - Tyler Toffoli
Milan Lucic - Nazem Kadri - Jonathan Huberdeau
Andrews Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
Trevor Lewis - Adam Ruzicka - Walker Duehr

Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Chris Tanev - Mackenzie Weegar
Nikita Zadorov - Michael Stone

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