Game Preview: Penguins vs Avalanche

The Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Colorado Avalanche tonight at 7 PM at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins are currently 24-16-9, while the Avalanche currently sit at 27-18-3. The game will be available to watch on AT&T Sportsnet and AltitudeTV2.

Forward Valeri Nichushkin and defenseman Bowen Byram will return for the Avalanche. Nichushkin missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, and Bryam has been out since the beginning of November with a lower-body injury. There is still a chance that Englund could replace MacDermid in the lineup as the seventh defenseman. Forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Josh Archibald are each back for Pittsburgh. Kapanen has been out since January 18th with a lower-body injury, and Archibald has been out since December 18th, also with a lower-body injury.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

COL: F Nathan MacKinnon (0-5-5 in last 5 games)

PIT: F Sidney Crosby: (3-5-8 in last 5 games)

STARTING GOALIES

COL: Pavel Francouz (7-7-0, 2.58 GAA, .917 SV%, 1 SO)

PIT: Casey DeSmith (7-10-4, 3.35 GAA, .901 SV%, 0 SO)

STATS

PP%

COL: 24.5% (8th)

PIT: 22.7% (14th)

PK%

COL: 76.8% (20th)

PIT: 81.1% (9th)

FO%

COL: 46.3% (27th)

PIT: 52.2% (8th)

GF/GP

COL: 3.06 (19th)

PIT: 3.27 (12th)

GA/GP

COL: 2.73 (9th)

PIT: 3.10 (17th)

COL Projected Lines

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: D Andreas Englund

Injured: F Gabriel Landeskog (knee), D Josh Manson (lower-body), F Darren Helm (lower-body)

PIT Projected Lines

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 Takorski

Scratched: F Drew O’Connor, D Mark Friedman, F Danton Heinen

Injured: G Tristan Jarry (upper-body), D Jan Rutta (upper-body)

Stanley Cup Aspirations – Cue’ the Duck Boats Pod

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