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)
