AVALANCHE (35-7-9) at CANADIENS (29-17-7)
7 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN2, ALT
Avalanche projected lineup
Victor Olofsson — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Taylor Makar — Jack Drury — Gavin Brindley
Zakhar Bardakov — Parker Kelly — Joel Kiviranta
Sam Malinski — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Keaton Middleton — Samuel Girard
Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scratched: None
Injured: Gabriel Landeskog (upper body), Devon Toews (upper body), Logan O’Connor (hip surgery), Ross Colton (lower body)
Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Alexandre Texier
Juraj Slafkovsky — Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Zachary Bolduc — Jake Evans — Kirby Dach
Josh Anderson — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson — Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson — Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj — Alexandre Carrier
Jakub Dobes
Samuel Montembeault
Scratched: Sammy Blais, Jayden Struble, Joe Veleno
Injured: Patrik Laine (lower body), Alex Newhook (broken ankle)
Status report
The Avalanche did not hold a morning skate following a 5-2 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. … Wedgewood likely will start the second of back-to-back games for Colorado after Blackwood allowed three goals on 21 shots in his third straight start Wednesday. … Dobes will start consecutive games for the first time since he started four straight from Dec. 3-11; otherwise the Canadiens will dress the same lineup for a third straight game.
