The Colorado Avalanche (44-12-9) open a two-game homestand against the Pittsburgh Penguins (33-18-15). Puck drop is scheduled for 7:50 p.m. MT and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.<\/p>\n
Key Stories to Watch<\/p>\n
Just three weeks after a trade sent Samuel Girard to Pittsburgh, the longtime Avalanche defenseman will miss this game with an upper-body injury. The Avs will dress Brett Kulak, who faces the Pens after spending nearly three months as a member of their team.<\/p>\n
It feels like Colorado is in must-win territory if it wants to keep the Dallas Stars from catching them in the Central Division standings. The Avs are 1-2-0 in their last three, which has narrowed their lead on Dallas to just three points with a game in hand.<\/p>\n
Scott Wedgewood is back in goal for the Avalanche. He\u2019s been the better goalie since the Olympic break and has an opportunity to have a big week if he can help the Avs get two points against Pittsburgh. Colorado hosts Dallas on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Gabe Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen were both on the ice for morning skate but will not play. They mostly skated as extras.<\/p>\n
Season Series<\/p>\n
March 16 vs Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n
March 24 at Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n
Avalanche Injuries<\/p>\n
Logan O\u2019Connor (undisclosed, indefinitely)<\/p>\n
Artturi Lehkonen (upper body, week-to-week)<\/p>\n
Gabriel Landeskog (lower body, week-to-week)<\/p>\n
Ross Colton (upper body, TBD)<\/p>\n
Projected Avalanche Lines (Subject to Change)<\/p>\n
Nazem Kadri \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon \u2014 Martin Necas
Joel Kiviranta \u2014 Brock Nelson \u2014 Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly \u2014 Jack Drury \u2014 Nicolas Roy
Zakhar Bardakov \u2014 Gavin Brindley<\/p>\n
Devon Toews \u2014 Cale Makar
Josh Manson \u2014 Brent Burns
Brett Kulak \u2014 Sam Malinski
Nick Blankenburg<\/p>\n
Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood<\/p>\n
Projected Starters (Subject to Change)<\/p>\n
Confirmed: Scott Wedgewood (COL)<\/p>\n
Confirmed: Arturs Silovs (PIT)<\/p>\n
Upcoming Milestones<\/p>\n
Josh Manson \u2014 needs 3 points for 200<\/p>\n
Valeri Nichushkin \u2014 needs 5 assists for 200<\/p>\n
Devon Toews \u2014 needs 5 points for 300<\/p>\n
Cale Makar \u2014 needs 5 points for 500<\/p>\n
How to Watch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Colorado Avalanche (44-12-9) open a two-game homestand against the Pittsburgh Penguins (33-18-15). Puck drop is scheduled for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[30402,73,75,74,1067],"class_list":["post-140476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-penguins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}